By Adam MacVicar & Adam Toy Global News
Posted November 9, 2021
The City of Calgary is one step closer to declaring a climate emergency after a unanimous vote by a city committee on Tuesday. As Adam MacVicar reports, council hopes the symbolic gesture will open up more investment opportunities.
An effort to declare a climate emergency in Calgary cleared its first hurdle Tuesday.
Meeting for the first time this term, the city’s executive committee voted unanimously to have the notice of motion debated at council as a whole, including a final vote.
The notice of motion from Ward 5 Coun. Raj Dhaliwal calls for the City of Calgary to declare a climate emergency and adjust the city’s emissions reduction targets to net-zero by 2050. The current goal within the City of Calgary is to reduce 80 per cent of 2005 emissions in the same timeframe.
READ MORE: Climate emergency declaration could have Calgary aiming for net zero by 2050
According to experts, that is the base target around the globe to limit warming of the climate to 1.5 degrees Celsius.
Mayor Jyoti Gondek helped the novice councillor write the notice of motion and a number of other councillors, including Ward 9’s Gian-Carlo Carra and Ward 12’s Evan Spencer, were among those named co-signatories to the declaration.
Dhaliwal, who worked in the energy sector prior to running for public office, said climate change was an issue he heard about during the campaign following the hailstorm in the city’s northeast, with many of his constituents still waiting for repairs following the billion-dollar hailstorm in 2020. Dhaliwal said he heard “one simple question” while campaigning.
“Why isn’t city doing more on climate change? Why are we kicking the can down the street?” Dhaliwal told the committee. “My kids or their kids, they don’t want to see this again in their lifetime.”
“They were telling me they want to see robust plans that will protect not only us but future generations and make the city more resilient in a way.”
According to the Insurance Bureau of Canada, Calgary and Alberta have been subject to at least six of the top 10 most-costly years on record from severe weather. The 2020 hailstorm resulted in more than $! billion in insured damages.
READ MORE: Majority support Trudeau’s climate policy pitches made at COP26, poll suggests
The climate emergency declaration aims to make climate change “a strategic priority” and calls on administration to develop strategic business plans and budgets across each city department to invest in and implement emissions-reduction and climate risk-reduction projects.
Proponents said the declaration would unlock opportunities for investment dollars to come into the city.
READ MORE: Calgary election: The future of the city with a changed climate
“There are numerous business advantages. There are investment opportunities that we are missing out on,” Ward 14 Coun. Peter Demong said. “The entrepreneurial spirit here in Calgary will take this and run with it. So I’m looking forward to it.”
Demong added investment drawn to Calgary as a result of the declaration could help lift the city from a pandemic-induced recession.
“What it does is it helps position the City of Calgary in terms of the language of the globe,” head of Alberta Eco Trust Climate Fund Mike Mellross told Global News.
“The rest of the globe is very interested in low-carbon solutions and transitioning the economy to low-carbon pathways.
“A climate emergency helps to signal that to various entities that might want to invest in Calgary and that actually can help attract talent.”
Skepticism shows
Ward 10 Coun. Andre Chabot hoped to move some of the language in the motion to make net zero a goal rather than an active process. Dick Ebersohn, the city manager leading climate change and environment policy planning, said the language in the motion is standard across worldwide cities who have also declared climate emergencies.
Chabot challenged the idea of human-induced climate change, citing “different presentations” he’s listened to.
“There’s been some that would suggest that the rise in the earth’s temperature actually preceded the rise in the CO2 levels,” Chabot said.
READ MORE: Alberta economy to return to pre-pandemic levels by 2022; Calgary mayor sets stage for city’s recovery
Gondek quickly noted that Chabot should hold his debate until the Nov. 15 city council meeting, as Tuesday’s committee meeting was more a matter of technical review of the proposed motion.
Amendments to the notice of motion also call for the implementation of a carbon budget as well as advocacy for funding to reduce climate risk to public infrastructure including upstream flood and drought mitigation on the Bow River.
It also calls for the City of Calgary to work with civic partners and subsidiaries to get aligned with the net-zero-by-2050 target.
2:19 Alberta’s economy looks to transition to renewable energy – Nov 1, 2021
“When we start looking at our relationship with how we move around the city — whether it be transit, active mobility, accessibility lanes and so on — that’s one huge way of us changing our culture of convenience and our lifestyle to creating a future-friendly, climate-resilient city,” Ward 8 Coun. Courtney Walcott said.
“How we build, our land use, the strategies that we employ at a city level to create those changes are going to be some of the most impactful shifts that the city will have a hand in.”
According to Ebersohn, work is underway to provide Calgarians an incentive to retrofit their homes with more sustainable materials and energy sources like solar panels.
Ebersohn also told Global News a strategy is underway to transition the city’s fleet of vehicles to help towards emissions-reduction targets.
“Commercial and residential sectors are key sectors for us to intervene in,” Ebersohn said. “It’s the buildings and the transportation sector that are the key contributors to greenhouse gas emissions, and that’s what we need to focus on.”
Reports into these initiatives and strategies are expected next year which will include more details as well as a better idea of costs for the city and taxpayers.
New time, new council
The federal government and the cities of Edmonton, Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal have all declared climate emergencies, most in 2019, leaving Calgary as a laggard.
Whether the past city councillors would have been as favourable of such a declaration was speculation Carra would not engage in on Tuesday.
But asked whether it was the current time the city is living in or the new members of council that led to the endorsement for the declaration of a climate emergency, the Ward 9 representative said “yes.”
“How we build, our land use, the strategies that we employ at a city level to create those changes are going to be some of the most impactful shifts that the city will have a hand in.”
According to Ebersohn, work is underway to provide Calgarians an incentive to retrofit their homes with more sustainable materials and energy sources like solar panels.
Ebersohn also told Global News a strategy is underway to transition the city’s fleet of vehicles to help towards emissions-reduction targets.
“Commercial and residential sectors are key sectors for us to intervene in,” Ebersohn said. “It’s the buildings and the transportation sector that are the key contributors to greenhouse gas emissions, and that’s what we need to focus on.”
Reports into these initiatives and strategies are expected next year which will include more details as well as a better idea of costs for the city and taxpayers.
New time, new council
The federal government and the cities of Edmonton, Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal have all declared climate emergencies, most in 2019, leaving Calgary as a laggard.
Whether the past city councillors would have been as favourable of such a declaration was speculation Carra would not engage in on Tuesday.
But asked whether it was the current time the city is living in or the new members of council that led to the endorsement for the declaration of a climate emergency, the Ward 9 representative said “yes.”
1:45 Climate change action top of mind for Calgarians: poll – Sep 8, 2021
“I suspect the climate emergency motion would not have passed in the last council, and I think that declaring a climate emergency is a declaration that we’re doing things differently and we are responding to the will of the electorate in terms of addressing the challenges facing our city right now,” Carra said.
Demong — one of four returning members of council — was also unsure of whether city council would have passed such a declaration before 2021.
“If it did, it would have been tight, but I try not to guess what council’s going to do or should, would have or should have done.”
The motion to declare a climate emergency in Calgary goes to the next meeting of city council on Nov. 15.
Braid: Climate emergency declaration boosts Calgary's economic recovery
At this crucial stage, Calgary must not seem lukewarm about the climate action investors want
Author of the article: Don Braid • Calgary Herald
Publishing date:Nov 09, 2021
MORE ON THIS TOPIC
Climate emergency declaration to be Gondek's first motion as mayor
Gondek tells economic outlook event that Calgary must lead 'in a world of transition'
Varcoe: For Calgary to recover, 'we have to transform our economy'
There has been massive investment in petrochemicals and now hydrogen on Edmonton’s eastern frontier. The province approved and backed projects with no worry about the local council’s climate
Largely due to COVID-19, Edmonton lost 12,700 jobs in the past two years, according to a Calgary report on post-pandemic recovery.
But Calgary lost 26,100 jobs in the same period. Our unemployment rate is consistently higher than Edmonton’s, running at 9.3 per cent since 2019.
If a climate emergency declaration can be linked to jobs, as Kenney seems determined to do, there’s an argument that Edmonton is doing better because it passed one.
Now Calgary has scored Amazon Web Service’s (AWS) second hub in Canada, after Montreal, which declared a climate emergency in 2019. There will be 900 jobs and $4 billion in spending, including construction of three sites in Calgary.
Amazon won’t be offended by council’s climate declaration. The vast overall company is committed to net-zero carbon emissions across all its operations by 2040
The Calgary win is called “transformational,” and for once that’s no exaggeration.
It signals that Calgary is a top-tier international magnet for investment. Other companies cluster near Amazon sites like iron filings around a magnet.
Calgary beat out Toronto, Winnipeg, Edmonton and Vancouver, says Patrick Mattern, vice-president of business development for Calgary Economic Development. There were many factors, including real estate costs and tax rates.
At this crucial stage, Calgary must not seem lukewarm about the climate action investors want
Author of the article: Don Braid • Calgary Herald
Publishing date:Nov 09, 2021
Mayor Jyoti Gondek speaks at an orientation outlining the 2022 Adjustments to the One Calgary Service Plans and Budgets report at Calgary Municipal Building on Monday, November 8, 2021. PHOTO BY AZIN GHAFFARI/POSTMEDIA
Article content
Mayor Jyoti Gondek’s declaration of climate emergency won’t face much trouble from her new council. It’s likely to pass by 12-3 or better when the vote comes Nov. 15.
About time, too. More than 500 Canadian cities, towns, hamlets and the federal Parliament have already passed this resolution. Edmonton did so in 2019.
By failing to sign on, Calgary risks looking like a climate change denier. That would harm the city’s reputation — and economy.
Premier Jason Kenney, exercising his knee-jerk reflex to almost anything coming out of Calgary council, scolded Gondek when she announced her intention.
“In a city that has been suffering from near double-digit unemployment, that has gone through five years of deep economic adversity, I find that a peculiar priority,” Kenney said.
“I would have thought that the mayor of Calgary’s top priority would be getting Calgarians back to work,” he said. “That’s certainly my top priority.”
But this climate declaration is very much about jobs. It’s a signal to the country and the world that the city is open to investment in technology and innovation, as well as the oil and gas industry’s transition to net-zero emissions.
That 2019 declaration sure didn’t hurt Edmonton. Although times are far from easy there, the capital has done much better than Calgary.
Article content
Mayor Jyoti Gondek’s declaration of climate emergency won’t face much trouble from her new council. It’s likely to pass by 12-3 or better when the vote comes Nov. 15.
About time, too. More than 500 Canadian cities, towns, hamlets and the federal Parliament have already passed this resolution. Edmonton did so in 2019.
By failing to sign on, Calgary risks looking like a climate change denier. That would harm the city’s reputation — and economy.
Premier Jason Kenney, exercising his knee-jerk reflex to almost anything coming out of Calgary council, scolded Gondek when she announced her intention.
“In a city that has been suffering from near double-digit unemployment, that has gone through five years of deep economic adversity, I find that a peculiar priority,” Kenney said.
“I would have thought that the mayor of Calgary’s top priority would be getting Calgarians back to work,” he said. “That’s certainly my top priority.”
But this climate declaration is very much about jobs. It’s a signal to the country and the world that the city is open to investment in technology and innovation, as well as the oil and gas industry’s transition to net-zero emissions.
That 2019 declaration sure didn’t hurt Edmonton. Although times are far from easy there, the capital has done much better than Calgary.
Climate emergency declaration to be Gondek's first motion as mayor
Gondek tells economic outlook event that Calgary must lead 'in a world of transition'
Varcoe: For Calgary to recover, 'we have to transform our economy'
There has been massive investment in petrochemicals and now hydrogen on Edmonton’s eastern frontier. The province approved and backed projects with no worry about the local council’s climate
Largely due to COVID-19, Edmonton lost 12,700 jobs in the past two years, according to a Calgary report on post-pandemic recovery.
But Calgary lost 26,100 jobs in the same period. Our unemployment rate is consistently higher than Edmonton’s, running at 9.3 per cent since 2019.
If a climate emergency declaration can be linked to jobs, as Kenney seems determined to do, there’s an argument that Edmonton is doing better because it passed one.
Now Calgary has scored Amazon Web Service’s (AWS) second hub in Canada, after Montreal, which declared a climate emergency in 2019. There will be 900 jobs and $4 billion in spending, including construction of three sites in Calgary.
Amazon won’t be offended by council’s climate declaration. The vast overall company is committed to net-zero carbon emissions across all its operations by 2040
The Calgary win is called “transformational,” and for once that’s no exaggeration.
It signals that Calgary is a top-tier international magnet for investment. Other companies cluster near Amazon sites like iron filings around a magnet.
Calgary beat out Toronto, Winnipeg, Edmonton and Vancouver, says Patrick Mattern, vice-president of business development for Calgary Economic Development. There were many factors, including real estate costs and tax rates.
It was a stunning sunrise as clouds glow over the downtown Calgary skyline on Wednesday, November 3, 2021.
PHOTO BY GAVIN YOUNG/POSTMEDIA
Although Mattern can’t say for sure if there’s a connection, Calgary’s aggressive bid for Amazon’s second headquarters (HQ2) probably helped.
The city failed to make the final cut in early 2018 — Toronto was the only Canadian city on the list of 20 — but still made an impression. A site in Virginia was the eventual winner.
In 2017, Amazon located a fulfilment centre at Balzac. That has since been followed by a sorting facility.
The region was already well-known to Amazon when talks began in 2019 with AWS, the most profitable unit of Amazon, supplier of cloud computing, storage, networking and a lot more.
Only a day after the Amazon news came out, a business support company called Plug and Play announced location of a headquarters in Calgary.
Jobs Minister Doug Schweitzer noted that in the past two years, the number of tech companies in the province has jumped from 1,800 to 3,000.
After six tough years and too many empty buildings, Calgary’s economic future is taking shape.
It’s a mix of digital companies, health sciences, AI and energy companies that branch into new areas while cutting emissions from production.
At this crucial stage, Calgary must not seem lukewarm about the climate action investors want.
So, get it over with. Pass that resolution.
Don Braid’s column appears regularly in the Herald
Twitter: @DonBraid
Although Mattern can’t say for sure if there’s a connection, Calgary’s aggressive bid for Amazon’s second headquarters (HQ2) probably helped.
The city failed to make the final cut in early 2018 — Toronto was the only Canadian city on the list of 20 — but still made an impression. A site in Virginia was the eventual winner.
In 2017, Amazon located a fulfilment centre at Balzac. That has since been followed by a sorting facility.
The region was already well-known to Amazon when talks began in 2019 with AWS, the most profitable unit of Amazon, supplier of cloud computing, storage, networking and a lot more.
Only a day after the Amazon news came out, a business support company called Plug and Play announced location of a headquarters in Calgary.
Jobs Minister Doug Schweitzer noted that in the past two years, the number of tech companies in the province has jumped from 1,800 to 3,000.
After six tough years and too many empty buildings, Calgary’s economic future is taking shape.
It’s a mix of digital companies, health sciences, AI and energy companies that branch into new areas while cutting emissions from production.
At this crucial stage, Calgary must not seem lukewarm about the climate action investors want.
So, get it over with. Pass that resolution.
Don Braid’s column appears regularly in the Herald
Twitter: @DonBraid
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