Thorold is severing its ties with the Partners for Climate Protection Program (PCPP).
After hearing from several delegates – all of whom supported the City leaving – councillors didn’t take long to decide, voting 7-1 in favour of a staff recommendation that Thorold leave the program.
Only Councillor Tim O’Hare voted against the motion.
In a brief discussion, Councillor Jim Handley, who had been leading the charge along with fellow Councillor Carmen DeRose, used the opportunity to refute allegations that he is a climate change denier.
“I probably have more experience in the City of Thorold as far as environmental stewardship than any,” he said. “In fact, I initiated environmental stewardship in Thorold some 16 years ago when Councillor D’Angela was mayor.”
He cited such things as the installation of LED lighting at the Thorold Arena, electricity price hedging – “which saved the taxpayers money,” he said – among other things.
He also floated the idea of using wood chips as an energy source at the public works building but the idea was not approved, he said.
“I’m not a climate denier,” he said. “I’ve, in fact, done more for this city in regard to reducing greenhouse gas emissions than any(one) here.”
The Partners for Climate Protection program is administered by the Federation of Canadian Municipalities and ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability Canada and receives funding from the federal government.
More than 500 municipalities have signed on to the free program, which provides members with tools and technical support to help them meet the program’s five milestones: creating an inventory of greenhouse gas emitters, setting a target level for reduction, developing a plan, implementing that plan, and monitoring the impact.
On Tuesday, Handley said he had wanted to hear from representatives of ICLEI but instead, at its May 28 meeting, council only heard from two members representing the climate protection program.
He brought that up Tuesday.
“To this day, we have yet to hear or, in fact, even know who represents PCP ICLEI. They have been, basically, non-existent.”
Councillor Carmen DeRose, meanwhile, said climate change is nothing new.
“The climate has been changing for four and a half billion years,” he said. “It’s not going to stop. We’re trying to solve a problem that doesn’t exist."
Taxpayers, who he said, are paying for climate initiatives at the federal, provincial, and regional levels are asked to be paying “a fourth level of taxation which is not going to change the climate one bit.”
He added that the staff recommendation to leave the partnership was “bang on.”
Councillor Ken Sentance acknowledged that climate change is a problem and that something needs to be done in reaction to it.
When it came to the report, however, he would accept staff’s recommendation concerning the PCPP, whichever course they decided.
“I told them before that I would, if they wanted it, support it,” Sentence said. “If they don’t, I won’t.”
His vote was simply on the City being a part of the PCPP and he said that nothing he had heard from delegations Tuesday did anything to sway him and that any efforts being made in the future to stem climate change would have his support.
“That’s where my votes in the future will be if we can make this world cleaner for our kids and our grandkids,” he said.
“I won’t support the report,” Councillor O’Hare said, as the sole dissenter. “I think that we may be hesitating too much, and we’ll be left behind.”
Port Robinson resident Ron Devereaux said that when Kiana Simmons addressed council at the May 28 meeting, she was “parroting the (United Nations) company line” when she suggested councillors and residents look to the International Panel on Climate Change to see the science.
“The UN’s climate change and net zero agenda are based on the claims of the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, known as the IPCC,” he said.
He said “mainstream climate science” shows that fossil fuels do not drive climate change.
“In fact, it’s exactly the opposite,” he said.
Any money spent by the City on climate change, is wasted money, he added.
“Any effort, time and money that the municipal government of Thorold spends on the reducing of carbon dioxide produced, is for no environmental benefits that will stop climate change.”
Peterborough resident Maggie Braun was critical of the PCPP. She called the data collection process to determine greenhouse gas emissions for both the municipality and the community for the program “labour intensive” that “demands a significant amount of time and resources and imposes a heavy burden on the staff and the community.”
She also said that there are ethical issues surrounding what she said would be municipalities “data harvesting” on behalf of private industry.
Mark Freeman, a member of a member of 50by30 Niagara and Biodiversity and Climate Action Niagara, was out of town but submitted a written delegation to council.
While he was heartened to hear some councillors “clearly state that they understand climate change is real," he also felt let down by what was said by others.
“It was disappointing to hear Councillor DeRose demonstrate his lack of knowledge, not understanding the difference between why the climate changed hundreds of millions of years ago relative to the cause(s) of 21st century climate change,” Freeman said in an email to ThoroldToday.
While supporting the city’s efforts to work with the Region, which is already a part of the PCPP, was laudable, Freeman said, progress at the upper tied of municipal government has been slow.
“I’m very concerned that the pace at which the Region is moving is insufficient to meet the challenge,” he said.
The debate over the City remaining with the program has been contentious but Tuesday’s meeting was relatively calm.
That being said, there still were a few occasions when Mayor Terry Ugulini had to remind members of the public on hand – the vast majority of whom wanted the city to pull out of the partnership – to maintain decorum when they broke into applause and cheers after delegates and councillors spoke in support of the staff recommendation.
