Councillor concerned about impact of budget decision

Sandra O’Connor feels strongly that climate change is one of the most important challenges we face as a society, and at all levels of government.

She sat on the town’s environmental committee last year, which came up with a thorough and ambitious climate adaptation plan that was approved last spring, and includes six goals and 27 actions.

O’Connor was glad to see the position of a climate change coordinator in this year’s budget to help implement that plan. However, along with a fleet mechanic, that position was dropped, and her efforts to have it included were unsuccessful.

A United Nations report released in March leaves no doubt about the dire situation caused by climate change, and outlines the urgency of taking more ambitious action. It says that “if we act now, we can still secure a liveable sustainable future for all.”

The report says “more frequent and intense extreme weather events” have caused increasingly dangerous impacts on nature and people in every corner of the world, and climate-driven food and water insecurity is expected to increase.

Governments working together with public funding is key, the report says, and changes are more likely to succeed where everyone works together to prioritize risk reduction.

O’Connor was one of three councillors who recently voted against the operating budget because of the 8.39 per cent increase over last year for the average taxpayer, most of it due to new hirings.

But even with that increase, she says, there is nothing in it to support the town’s climate plan. Although councillors approved 11 other new full-time positions, they voted to defer the hiring of a climate change coordinator until next year, saving $54,140.

“The budget reflects the priorities of council, and the environment, in my opinion, is a very important priority,” O’Connor said when she voted against it.

She told The Local she isn’t sure why others don’t share her sense of urgency — she hesitates to call it complacency. “I can only say I don’t feel it’s being given the appropriate priority.”

O’Connor recently found a CBC survey that showed “nearly 80 per cent of Canadians between the ages of 16 to 25 find their concern over climate change impacts their overall mental health,” she tells The Local. “And what are we doing about that?”

She also discovered that teachers in Alberta are developing programs for students in Grades 4 and 5 to deal with “climate change anxiety.”

With no dedicated Niagara-
on-the-Lake staff person to deal with climate change, including legislative requirements, the implementation of meeting those requirements or carrying out the recommended actions in the climate adaptation plan “will be much, much slower,” she says.

Town staff were surveyed as part of the research for the plan, and “overall there was an enthusiastic level of support for the draft visions and goals.”

But senior staff, when asked if they can meet the responsibilities of what is proposed “said it would be a challenge,” says O’Connor.

“No one person is available to do the work. We really need to have the focus of one person on staff to champion the plan, and that has the expertise to champion it. And when we go to upper levels of government to advocate for various things for climate change mitigation, they’re always asking what we are doing about it. If we don’t have someone with the expertise needed they won’t take us seriously, because we’re not taking it seriously.”

One of the three most important actions in the climate change adaption plan is that it needs to be mainstreamed into corporate policies, O’Connor says, “but there won’t be one person to get that done, and no one will have the environmental expertise.”

What happens to this report?

O’Connor says it’s left up to council to question the impact of climate change, “and the only one who is doing that is me.”

The climate change adaption plan approved last year calls for next steps: to execute the plan and align budget items, for short-term action times to be included in the budget, and for detailed planning for mid- to long-term actions to be forecast.

Staff, particularly the CAO, are trying to incorporate the plan and think about the environment to the best of their ability, as the need arises, O’Connor says, “but they’re also doing it on several other fronts. And so without a champion inside to push it, it’s not going to be as effective. That’s not to say the staff are not aware of it or aren’t pushing it, it’s just going to take a little longer.”

The position of the climate change coordinator was originally in the middle of the priority list of hirings on the budget, placed there by staff, she says, “but council took it out and said not this year.”

The report is not just about climate change in general, it also spells out how it will directly impact NOTL. It shows that the annual average temperature has already increased since the 1980s and will continue to increase, along with an increase of the frequency of freeze-thaw cycles.

The number of hot days, above 30 C, is predicted to increase, while the number of cold days, below -15 C, is expected to decrease.

For the Niagara region, climate scientists are projecting an increase in average annual temperature of 3 to 4 C by the 2050s, an increase of frost-free days, a significant decrease in rainfall and an increase in extreme weather events.

“This town is likely to be affected by a range of climate change impacts, including basement flooding, damaging storms, power outages, heat stress and damage to infrastructure,” the climate change adaptation plan says. “These impacts will reach all aspects of the town, including residents, business owners, tourists, agriculture and wildlife.”

A recent regional survey on climate change showed that the 104 NOTL residents who responded are taking climate change seriously and are concerned.

“There are many people in NOTL who are concerned,” says O’Connor. “I think they are aware of the plan and they think we are implementing it. They haven’t been paying enough attention to the budget to realize that it isn’t happening.”

Meanwhile, the environment advisory committee from last term has been reinstated for now, “until we go through a thorough review and see how it’s going to be reconstituted,” she says.

O’Connor has looked to other Niagara municipalities to see if they have climate change coordinators, and discovered many of them do, although the titles vary. “It’s fair to say most municipalities do. It’s a common role most municipalities have, full time.”

Existing NOTL staff will do their best, she says, “but they just won’t have a lot of time.”

O’Connor says she’s “not very confident” the six goals and 27 actions of the climate change adaptation plan approved by council will be accomplished, but she believes as issues come up for discussion, such as during a review of the official plan, the impact on the environment will have to be included. “How thorough it will be done without that person with expertise, I do not know.”