Delegations Needed! The Region of Durham is now receiving comments on the draft Official Plan through direct emails, the map portal, and at the upcoming Statutory Public Meeting on March 7. We're asking a critical mass of you to make delegations at the Statutory Public Meeting (hybrid) on March 7 at 11 a.m. Confirm your commitment to speaking up at this important meeting by sending a quick reply to stopsprawldurham@gmail.com saying: “I'll delegate on March 7!” 
See information and instructions for both in-person and hybrid delegations here. 

NEW! As promised at the first meeting on Feb. 2nd, the Alliance for a Liveable Ontario (ALO) has launched a handy calendar to see and share Events, Actions and Tools!

ESSENTIAL READING! CAN-RAC has just released its report on the investment required for a Just Transition - Spending What it Takes - Transformational Climate Investments for Long-Term Prosperity in Canada. Written in partnership with the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, it calls for a “$40 billion to accelerate zero-carbon mobility by providing stable, long-term funding for public transit and expanding intercity passenger options.”

Public transit especially in large cities has been thrown into crisis by the ongoing, three-year Covid pandemic, chronic under-financing of needed additions and upgrades, and now by highly publicised criminal acts that are largely due to inequality and the cost of living/inflation crisis, and inadequate mental health and homelessness services. All at a time when transit solutions to the climate crisis, such as electrifying cars, trucks, and municipal fleets from school buses to garbage trucks, are clearly the way to go (pun intended!).

We need provincial and municipal transportation policies that plan and adequately finance transit systems, not the  knee-jerk reaction to increase policing, as proposed by the former Mayor of Toronto in this year’s budget. According to TTC Riders, a public transit advocacy group:

“Recent media reports have given the impression of a big spike in violent incidents on the TTC. But without TTC data publicly available from December 2022 and January 2023, it is not yet clear if there has been a significant increase, or simply more media attention. The number of recorded offences against TTC users actually decreased from October 2022 to November 2022, from 2.11 offences per million boardings to 1.91 offences per million boardings.

[Former] Mayor John Tory has not provided any evidence that his decision to expand police and security guards on the TTC will prevent violence. But there is plenty of evidence that this approach will make some transit users less safe, especially Black, Indigenous, and unhoused people, and people in mental health crisis. There is also no public data that shows that people who are unhoused or living with mental illnesses are responsible for recent violence on transit.”

We need to Invest in affordable (or free), accessible, and convenient zero-emissions public transit connecting and interconnecting communities, including northern communities, while promoting healthy walkable, cycling-friendly communities with ample green infrastructure. Below are some of the ways transit can help us transition to a low-carbon society.

1. Transit options that reduce emissions and provide healthier public transit.

Light rail transit (LRT), streetcars (and subways)  are low-carbon public transit alternatives to the private cars and trucks that are the main source (32% of Ontario’s) GHG emissions in cities with sufficient density. Increasing LRT and its quality - safety, reliability, affordability and accessibility - is long overdue and essential to reduce vehicular traffic and air pollution.

The Ontario government needs to deliver on its promise (for 2024 now 2032) to electrify the GO Transit System which currently runs on diesel.

The crown corporations established to build and operate these multi-billion dollar transit systems, Metrolinx for the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area (GTHA), and OC Transpo in Ottawa, are plagued by both political interference and private contractors eager for public contracts but averse to risk. There are definitely large problems with new LRT and subway systems. Think of the long delayed Eglinton Crosstown LRT, now 10 years behind schedule and over budget, or Ottawa’s OC Transpo. European municipalities show us the best way to make these very expensive projects pay for themselves is urban planning that creates walkable, high-density neighbourhoods around each station. 

LRT and subway systems are built through densely populated areas and involve complex engineering and construction. They are built to last for many decades and transport very large numbers of people. Toronto’s TTC had a ridership of just under 1.9 million a weekday in the 3rd quarter of 2022. Problems also occur in planning, coordination, community consultation and risk management between these systems’ public owners and private contractors.  

Many Ontario municipalities have active transportation plans that encompass cycling networks and walkable, quieter streets and communities. Region of Waterloo and the City of Windsor are prime examples. The Climate Caucus Councillor Handbook has an excellent section on Active Transportation for small and rural communities, with planning advice, suggestions for activities and many examples of active transportation, such as the program in Saugeen Shores, Ontario.  

Additional examples in cities and towns beyond the Greenbelt are available through The Centre for Active Transportation website. If podcasts are your preferred method of information gathering, check out this short episode of In Over My Head with Gideon Forman, Climate Change and Transportation Policy Analyst for the David Suzuki Foundation (DSF), who talks about how walking, biking, and rolling lower our environmental impact. He also describes the research that DSF has done on this topic in Toronto.

The Climate Caucus Councillor Handbook also has a section on Active Transportation for larger municipalities, with a strong focus on Complete Streets. This is an approach to planning, designing, building, operating, and maintaining streets that enable safe access for all  who need to use them, including pedestrians, bicyclists, motorists and transit riders of all ages and abilities. Streets are designed to accommodate healthier, more communal Active Transit.  An example is the City of Hamilton’s adoption of a Complete Streets Design Manual in July of 2022.

Recently, the idea of 15-minute cities has become popular, where one’s work, services and recreational facilities are all within walking distance. In October 2022, architects of the proposed development of Downsview airport won an award at the World Architecture Festival for their 15-minute city plan.

Positive steps in Ontario’s largest city: On February 8th, Toronto City Council made the Yonge Street bike lanes of the ActiveTO program permanent. ActiveTO is a suite of programs – Major Road Closures, Cycling Network Expansion and Quiet Streets – that contribute to the health and wellbeing of Toronto residents by providing  space to be physically active. See the ActiveTO video.

Neighbourhood Walkability

Neighbourhood walkability is a measure of how well a neighbourhood promotes active forms of transportation. A highly walkable neighbourhood has a variety of destinations within walking distance, well-connected streets and a mix of land uses. Walkability can increase physical activity levels across a broad population and reduce the risk of many chronic diseases. Read various articles and reports on walkability and health.

2.  Public Transit Connecting Cities and Towns Across the Province

Commuting by car or truck between cities and towns is a major reason for second and even third vehicle ownership and contributes to Ontario’s high level of GHG emissions. Until faster, frequent, reliable, affordable and accessible modern forms of passenger, freight and parcel transit by bus and rail are provided, people and businesses will drive their cars and trucks. We need a bus-rail grid that provides hourly service that links small towns, towns, cities, and rail stations. Ridership on VIA, Metrolinx and Ontario Northland trains can be increased by  increasing frequency and, in some cases, speed of trains. 

3. Another Spur for Public Transit: Scarcity of Critical Minerals for the manufacture of EVs and the dangers to ecosystems and biodiversity of their mining.

We can’t simply replace the 1.446 billion vehicles in the world with electric ones.   This would not diminish traffic congestion. We don’t have sufficient road space in dense urban centres now, let alone to allow for desired active forms or transit.  But another key reason is that there isn’t enough lithium, one of the  minerals required for EV batteries. Even if lithium were replaced, other increasingly scarce minerals would need to be extracted and processed. Mining and refining have major environmental impacts on watersheds, biodiversity and the carbon sinks in many ecosystems. Yet there is no question that EVs massively reduce the GHG emissions and particulate pollution compared to vehicles powered by internal combustion engines running on fossil gasoline or that they will play an important role in the transition to a low carbon economy. A cornerstone of Canada’s 2030 Emissions Reduction Plan is for all passenger vehicles sold in Canada to be electric by 2035. Many of those vehicles, and their electric batteries, will be manufactured in Windsor, Ontario.  But the scarcity and environmental problems associated with mining critical minerals means that a major positive step to decarbonizing transportation will be increased urban density, clean, affordable mass transit and networks  for active transportation.

According to a recent research report, “Achieving Zero Emissions with More Mobility and Less Mining”  the US transition from internal Combustion Engine (ICE) vehicles to Electric Battery Vehicles will only be feasible if 1) smaller lithium batteries are used, 2) they are recycled and 3) dependency on personal vehicles is reduced. 

Our federal and provincial governments are giving major priority to critical mineral strategies right now, to secure what they often call ‘green’ minerals if, as with lithium, they enable the transition from internal combustion engines to EVs.  The Energy Mix’s coverage of the recently approved Nemaska Lithium Mine in the Nemaska Cree territories of northern Quebec gives us  pause at the appropriation of the term “green”. Indigenous peoples in Ontario’s Ring of Fire, such as the Neskantaga First Nation, are all too aware of the threat that  this drive for critical minerals poses to their lands, waters and brethren in the ecosystems on which they depend to survive. To call any mining extractivism, whatever its use, ‘green’ is a very high order of deception. 

4.  Financing for Municipal Services including Public Transit

Municipalities, large and small (444 in Ontario with 99% of the population), are chronically short of the funds required to provide the services that are their responsibility, including public and active transit, and transition to low carbon forms of energy in time to meet their own and Canada’s climate emissions goals. Municipalities are not constitutional entities like the federal and provincial governments. They are created and governed by the Provinces and Territories and limited in the sources of revenue they are authorised to raise (primarily from property taxes and user/service fees such as transit fares). They do not have direct access to revenue from sales or income taxes. They are therefore constant supplicants for cash transfers from the provincial and federal governments. The result is a Sisyphean budgeting nightmare that often results in policies that undercut the transition to cleaner healthier transit options. 

Exactly one year ago, the Progressive Conservative Government of Ontario found more than $1 billion for a rebate of licence plate fees for Ontario’s 8.3 million drivers. If that $1 billion had been spent on public transit instead, fares could have been lowered, rapid bus service lanes could have been increased, LRT projects could have been completed - and we could have moved toward the active transit infrastructure needed in our communities.

The Toronto Environmental Alliance is tackling the funding  issue. They propose a 6.25 cents per hour levy on non-residential commercial parking.  It would generate $575 million per year to help fund the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC), equivalent l to a quarter of its current budget.

Breaking News! During the budget meeting on Wednesday, February 15, Toronto City Council voted to have the city staff do a feasibility study of the proposal. But Councillors should not ignore road tolls that drivers pay directly. They can be made more politically palatable by dedicating the funds raised to the same corridors as the tolled roads/highways.  Doing so changes behaviour - many switch to public transit - they were only driving because they had no alternative.

Transit Fares

Free Transit advocates have ample research to show that low or no fares for public transit are the most effective way to increase ridership, increase accessibility for low-income residents and reduce the use of private cars and trucks on the roads with all the environmental benefits that entails. Read “The Case for Free Public Transportation” published in July 2022 in The Toronto Star.

Toronto City Council’s current TTC budget  proposals call for fare increases and service cuts -  measures that reduce the use of public transit and increase the number of cars on Toronto streets, with negative consequences for GHG emissions and noise pollution, not to mention the health effects of childhood asthma and the 6,500 deaths from air pollution in Ontario a year. 

The Fair Pass system Toronto introduced in 2016 for low-income residents is only slightly increased this year and is still not fully funded. By contrast, the Town of Orangeville has started a Fare-Free Transit pilot program. 

Lack of attention and funding for social services, from mental health, to homelessness, disability and welfare supports, have turned the public transit system into “part of Toronto’s shelter network” for highly vulnerable people subject to preying criminals, thus undermining safe and reliable transit, its primary function.

Watch the speakers at this February 9th townhall held by TTC Riders speak to this issue. The anxiety induced by these social service deficits is impairing our health and that of our transit systems. Providing social crisis services for riders and making fares free will lower riders’ anxiety level and may reduce theft and violence.  Service funding cuts are not the answer!

The solution? Reliable, long term financing from the Provincial and/or Federal Government and/or a legislated portion of sales or income taxes. In the longer term, cities, municipalities and Indigenous nations must have seats at the table through constitutional reform.

The Centre for Active Transportation (TCAT) resources include research and evaluation reports and webinar recordings on topics such as developing walking and cycling networks, active transportation and health equity and complete streets.

The Climate Caucus, a non-partisan network of 600+ current and former local elected leaders and over 1000 allies, provides action-oriented tools, connections, and policies for climate action. Their Climate Caucus Councillor Handbook has excellent sections on transportation and climate justice.

Environmental Defence has just released Stopping the Public Transit Death Spiral.

New greenway coming to Windsor Essex
On January 28th Bike Windsor Essex (an OCEC signatory) announced that, in an impressive show of inter-agency cooperation, a 47-km abandoned rail corridor has been acquired from CN and CP and will be developed into a new off-road multi-use path. Much work is still to be done but it is a bold  step towards a bright cycling future. CBC has posted a great video/map showing connections to all the greenways.

Federal government releases interim Sustainable Jobs Plan: On February 17, 2023 the Government of Canada released their interim Sustainable Jobs Plan for 2023-2025. The Sustainable Jobs Action Plans will be released every five years starting in 2025. The term 'sustainable jobs' is used by the Government of Canada in the context of work on achieving what the international community refers to as a ‘just transition’ for workers and the jobs of a net-zero emissions economy.

From the UK: Six smart ideas that your council should copy to combat climate change

Ocean Plastics Cleanup: Nonprofit Gets $25Mil From Airbnb Co-Founder to Launch Massive Plastic Pollution Cleanup

Marine Protection: On February 6th, the federal government and coastal First Nations took a significant step towards establishing a massive marine protected area off the West Coast of Vancouver Island.

Many thanks to everyone that contributed to this issue of OCEC Connections.

Do you have any resources, upcoming events or actions you want to share? Send them to us at OCECnews@gmail.com.