’Tis the season for New Year’s resolutions: let’s start with the most existential resolution we have to make. With the critical urgency of addressing the climate crisis front of mind for many Canadians, our town council should set clear goals to outline a plan of climate action here in Bradford West Gwillimbury.
At the risk of repeating myself, given I wrote a column on this exact point in June, town council needs to corral the various environmental measures they already have in place into a coherent climate-action plan—and go further still.
Town council already gets top marks for doubling the number of trees planted in their first term and switching to energy-efficient streetlight bulbs.
But that also raises an obvious next step: why not double the number of trees planted yet again? Everyone loves a leafy street, and planting trees is the simplest, most cost-effective and natural way to fight greenhouse-gas emissions. This could be done through mandating trees be planted in the backyards of new houses as well as the front yards, and by the town facilities team identifying parks and public buildings that could use some additional landscaping.
A similar step could be energy-efficient light bulbs for all town facilities, not just streetlights, but that in itself also raises another next step. Town council needs to pursue a consolidation strategy.
Right now, our municipal staff are housed in various rented office spaces all across town. Despite best efforts, there’s inherent duplication of everything from phone and IT infrastructure to added costs—financial, environmental, productivity loss—travelling between offices. The upfront price tag for a new civic centre is high, but the costs of the status quo are already a slow drip, drip, drip of wasted funds.
In their last term, town council opened the new Henderson Park. Scanlon Creek also has ambitious plans for revitalisation of that wonderful conservation area. I have suggested before that we also need to aggressively move to create a conservation area, trails and a real “waterfront” feature along the Holland River and canals. More green space is good for the climate and great for our quality of life.
Finally, we need a real plan to begin to support people as they transition to electric vehicles. Council should lead in this area, with charging stations at major public buildings.
There are other ideas, but that’s the point—it’s time for town council to make a clear commitment to fighting climate change with a thorough, integrated plan. How’s that for a New Year’s resolution?
