Bradford Councillor Jonathan Scott was in Glasgow the other week for the United Nation's COP26 Climate Change Conference and is hoping to apply some of his learnings to town policy.
Scott was there on personal business with a client who works in clean energy finance, and this isn't the first rodeo.
The councillor attended the 2015 summit in Paris as a law student.
"I was at the 2015 summit in Paris as a law student when the world reached that landmark agreement. This conference in Glasgow is following up on those commitments to fighting climate change and to take new, integrated global measures to hold temperature rises to 1.5 degrees Celsius by reducing our greenhouse-gas emissions," he said.
He said there were a lot of discussions about the role municipalities play in climate change, a role central to environmental protection and reducing GHG emissions.
He noted how former Toronto mayor David Miller was in attendance. Miller leads the C40 movement, a group of the 40 largest cities around the world that are leading on climate.
"It's actually quite impressive with how Canadians are at the forefront of this conference, with former Bank of Canada Governor Mark Carney taking the lead role on global finance transitioning to renewable energy and clean investments," said Scott.
Scott says it is critical for municipalities to integrate environmental protection into their daily operations.
"I've said before that we need to ensure sustainability is a core operating principle of everything we do," he said. "In Bradford West Gwillimbury, this Council has made climate mitigation a priority -- from work before I was elected to convert to LED streetlights, doubling the number of trees planted, creating our municipal bus service."
He pointed out the town's efforts to move forward on environmental control measures related to wastewater and stormwater, including new provincial regulations and retrofits to improve operations and fight odour problems at the wastewater plant.
"We've led the effort to expedite the proposed phosphorus recycling facility, which will be absolutely critical to reducing pollution in our watershed in line with the Lake Simcoe Protection Plan. We've also planted more trees than ever before this year in town, including mature oaks, and submitted an application that will halve GHG emissions and nearly halve utility costs to retrofit the Bradford Public School into the new food bank and community hub -- something I think is a model potentially for other older municipal buildings," he said.
Council is working with MPP Caroline Mulroney to expand the Bradford GO Station and build the municipal and county bus services.
"We are also looking at how our asset management programs prioritize sustainability, including road maintenance, parks, trails and land conservation efforts, as well as green vehicles and charging station infrastructure," he said. "This is an area I'd like to see us do more in, to have an integrated green procurement strategy."
He wanted to note that while it may not always make the news, there is a lot of work that goes on behind the scenes by town staff to make sure environmental measures are taken.
"At our Council meeting last week, we had a report about getting Simcoe County to provide recycling at parks and in the downtown, we're looking at where we can install solar panels or other renewable energy installations on town buildings, with the library leading the way on this actually, and I know our traffic committee is guiding our efforts at cycling infrastructure and pedestrian safety," he said.
Scott says he wants to see the town grow in a sustainable way.
"We're not anti-growth; we're pro-smart growth, with a tight urban boundary that promotes density, growing 'up not out," he said, noting the new condos going up on Holland Street downtown with mixed housing options, promoting walkable communities near the GO station.
"This smart growth agenda is absolutely critical, especially as we also work to transform Holland Street into a walkable, pedestrian-friendly streetscape. We're showing that a medium-sized municipality wants to grow in a way that's environmentally friendly and people-friendly -- a green place to live is a good place to live," he said.
And while Bradford has grown from a small town to a medium-sized municipality, he says the town's agricultural roots show its connection to the earth and desire to be sustainable and eco-friendly.
"We know we have more to do, but we are committed to working to ensure we are as green as possible," he said. "It is a challenge in some ways as just one town that has to operate in a regional, provincial and national framework, but we are doing our part to fight climate change by ensuring our town grows in a sustainable way, takes good care of its natural resources and remains a wonderful place to live in such a beautiful part of the world."
