By Rachel Rowe
Almost half of Ottawa’s current city council members aren’t green enough, according to a coalition of local environmental groups that recently released report cards grading the councillors on their environmental concern.
Despite bell curving the results, 10 councillors were given failing grades, says Erwin Dreesen, spokesperson for the Greenspace Alliance of Canada’s Capital.
“This comes as no surprise,” he says.
“We are painfully aware of how un-environmentally-friendly council is.”
Grades were based on the voting records of council members concerning environmental issues.
Nineteen decisions made since 2003 were chosen, including decisions to reduce tree-planting programs, to reduce the recycling of plastics and the unsuccessful vote to ban the cosmetic use of pesticides.
For voting “against anything environmentally beneficial,” city councillors Glenn Brooks, Rick Chiarelli, Eli El-Chantiry, Jan Harder, Peter Hume, Rob Jellett, Shawn Little, Maria McRae and Doug Thompson all received Fs.
Mayor Bob Chiarelli got a D, as did councillors Rainer Bloess and Diane Deans.
Georges Bédard, Peggy Feltmate and Michel Bellemare received Cs. Jacques Legendre and Janet Stavinga scored Bs.
Somerset Coun. Diane Holmes and Clive Doucet received As and only Alex Cullen received an A-plus.
Dreesen says by publishing the report cards he hopes to enlighten voters and hold the former city council accountable for their decisions.
Dreesen says one issue he wants dealt with once a new council is elected is the debate to ban the cosmetic use of pesticides.
Dreesen isn’t alone.
The Canadian Cancer Society recently sent a questionnaire to all candidates about their opinions on the cosmetic use of pesticides with plans to publish the results before the election.
“The time for debate is over,” says Jeff Froggett, spokesperson for the organization. “It’s time for action.”
The Canadian Cancer Society has long held the position that substances contained in pesticides are probable causes of cancer with risks too high to ignore.
Froggett says he was very disappointed when councillors defeated the motion to ban pesticides last year.
“A lot of municipalities look to Ottawa for leadership and right now we’re considerably behind on this issue,” he says.
He adds that 120 municipalities across Canada have already adopted pesticide bans along with the entire province of Quebec.
Froggett says the election is a critical time to make voters and candidates aware of issues such as the pesticide ban.
Patrick Quealey, a member of the city’s environmental advisory committee, says the current council was not entirely to blame for their lack of environmental concern.
He says many of the city’s environmental programs were under-funded in the last budget.
“There was a lot of good intention but not enough following through with ideas,” he says.
The environmental advisory committee is a panel of citizens that promotes the protection of the environment by recommending and assisting in the development of environmental policies.
Quealey says the past city council has also taken positive actions towards protecting the environment that are often overlooked.
He points out that the Rethink Garbage program, funding for the Ottawa Sustainability Fund and, most recently, the decision to strengthen the city’s anti-idling bylaw were all positive environmental actions that took place last year.