Demand Climate Action in Oakville's 2024 Municipal Budget

Dear Mayor Burton and Councillors,

Oakville Council has delayed climate action for too long. Although you declared a climate emergency in 2019 with rare exceptions this declaration has not been followed up with meaningful action that would help citizens to reduce carbon emissions. I urge you to take decisive action to help avoid further climate catastrophes like the ones that we have seen across Canada this year. I ask that the 2024 budget accommodate and immediately implement the following actions:

• Create or strengthen a stand-alone Climate Change and Environment Department with appropriate staff accredited in areas such as Environmental Engineering, Sustainable Development, Sustainable Landscaping, Natural Green Assets, Green Building Design, Construction and Deep-Carbon Retrofits, Sustainable Infrastructure, etc.

• Create and employ a Climate Emergency Evaluation Tool that will function as a climate lens framework and embed climate considerations into decision-making across all departments and all activities.

• Develop or reinforce a Community Climate Action Plan that establishes a baseline of current emissions, sets appropriate targets for emissions reductions, identifies key performance indicators that enable effective measurement of progress and provides regular updates to Council and the public on progress achieved.

• Create and execute a substantial ‘active’ public engagement campaign, including hard money spent on social media, direct mail, publications and workshops to encourage people to take specific actions (install heat pumps, electric water heaters, and other home retrofits, replace all gas appliances and tools with electric, ensure their next car is an EV, take active transport), accompanied by information resources and ideally, coaching, to back it up; provide information to the public outlining the source and intensity of all local emissions.

• Implement a home retrofit pilot with $500,000 or more in Oakville funding (hopefully leveraged with FCM and/or other monies) to inspire Oakville residents to save money and save the environment by retrofitting their homes with a strong focus on energy efficiency and financial savings.

• Accompany the retrofit program with a bylaw to reduce the financial barrier for a retrofit; such a bylaw is already enabled by provincial legislation, to allow financing via a third-party property lien which would enable payment of the loan through property taxes and the lien remains with the property, so when a house is sold, the new owner enjoys the benefits and continues the payments (most or all of which would be covered by energy savings).

• Begin work on an energy rating system that would provide home buyers with information about the energy efficiency of any property they might consider purchasing.

• Undertake meaningful reviews of by-laws that would target the phase-out of gas-powered landscaping equipment (lawnmowers, leaf-blowers, hedge trimmers, etc.) which cause a tremendous amount of carbon emissions as well as noise pollution.

Recent catastrophic weather and fire events not only threaten the environment and our biodiversity but are also causing increases in home insurance rates and indirectly, an increase in municipal tax rates. In many cases we can save money when we reduce our emissions. Climate action is not only necessary for our survival – it makes good economic sense and I strongly urge Oakville Council to initiate meaningful Climate Action programs in Oakville.

Sincerely,