Urgent Action on the Budget – for Climate!
January 30, 2021
Dear Toronto voters!
The Toronto 2021 budget is in front of the budget committee which will make its recommendations on Feb 4th. The proposed budget will then go to the executive committee on Feb 11th, and to full council on Feb 18th.
The position your Councillor takes on the budget is crucial to the future of the City we live in and love. City Council must follow through on the commitments made in the Climate Emergency Declaration, despite the budget pressures created by COVID.
We are asking that you take a few moments to carry out one of the actions listed below:
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Write your councillor using the message below.
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Please be sure to cc the Mayor, mayor_tory@toronto.ca His support for this climate initiative is really needed. And please cc: climatefast@climatefast.ca
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Phone your councillor using the message below as a telephone script.
Note: The letter is long; for a phone message please focus on ask #1 - $2.5 million for the Environment & Energy budget
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Make an appointment to speak with your councillor. Let us know if you want to be matched with another constituent to set up a meeting.
Thank you for taking the time to consider this request.
A full list of councillor contacts and committee roles can be found our website here: http://www.climatefast.ca/city-toronto-councillors-contacts
If you have any questions about these asks please feel free to contact us! climatefast@climatefast.ca
THANK YOU! OUR VOICES RAISED TOGETHER WILL MAKE A DIFFERENCE!
The message – copy, paste, feel free to modify, send to: councillor_nunziata@toronto.ca
Please cc mayor_tory@toronto.ca,
Please bcc climatefast@climatefast.ca
(Date)
Dear Councillor
I am a constituent and <short personal message> I’m writing today to ask you to support the following amendments to the City budget proposal submitted by the staff that will address the deep social equity issues and the climate emergency that we face as a city.
Currently, global temperature rise is slightly above a 1 degree increase and has already created serious climate events for the City of Toronto. I remind you of the flooding that has increased in severity and frequency over the years and has caused millions of dollars in damage. In 2020 alone, flooding cost Toronto residents and insurers $80 million. It is projected that global temperatures will increase to 4-5 degrees, which will have devastating economic and social effects and make the earth nearly uninhabitable.
We must prepare to address climate change and the serious threat it poses to the City, its infrastructure, as well as the safety of its inhabitants. I ask that you support the following amendments to the budget proposed by City staff:
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Increase the budget for the Environment and Energy division by $2.5 million in order to fund the climate action necessary for Toronto to meet its goal of net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.
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Increase Toronto’s property tax rate by an additional 1%. There is a city building levy of 1.5% for housing and transit. However, it is a very limited amount given the needs of the City. We propose an additional 1% property tax increase to restore $30 million in needed funds for community services and programs, and funding for the Environment and Energy budget.
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Create a fund for climate emergency action using part of the $30 million that will be created by the recommended property tax increase.
If we are to achieve our 2050 commitment to have a carbon neutral city, we need to increase our funding for climate emergency and social equity investment. The amendments and the motion that I ask you to endorse are essential steps in this direction. There is no time to delay -- this is the year we must take bold action!
Sincerely,
<your name, address, postal code>
BUDGET DEPUTATIONS JAN 25 AND 26
Municipal budget deputations in writing can be submitted to the Clerk of the Budget Committee buc@toronto.ca
READ MORE BACKGROUND ON THE BUDGET: https://www.toronto.ca/city-government/budget-finances/city-budget/
JAN 18 – ADVOCACY TRAINING FOR CLIMATE JUSTICE
Think about our Future! Online Advocacy Training for Climate Justice in Toronto
Mon. Jan. 18, 7 – 8:30 p.m. EST
Join us to learn how to advocate for a budget at Toronto City Council that will support decisive climate action; skills training in deputations, letter writing, meeting with your elected representative. Speakers include Councillor Mike Layton, TEA Climate Campaigner Michael Polanyi, plus climate activists: Cheryl McNamara, Lyn Adamson, Sharon Howarth, and Joyce Hall.
https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/
https://www.facebook.com/
Ontarians call on the Ford government to stop its attacks on Nature
Queen’s Park 9 am December 8, 2020
Today the Ontario government will put budget bill 229-- including highly controversial cuts to the power of Conservation Authorities - up for a vote. Ontarians are out at Queen’s Park to say NO, instead calling for protection of key wetlands against big development. They also oppose a permanent exemption for logging operations from the Endangered Species Act.
“The Endangered Species act is there to protect vulnerable wildlife.” said Katie Krelove of the Wilderness Committee. “These changes are merely the latest in a long line of attacks on environmental protections by the Conservative government, all in the name of “cutting red tape”. They are pandering to big developers and industry at the expense of the health and safety of everyone else.”
A small group of environmental defenders, complying with Toronto Covid guidelines, representing hundreds more, is gathering in front of Queen’s Park this morning at 9AM to mark the vast public opposition to this gutting of environmental oversight and to pledge to keep up the fight for a true green recovery that protects natural ecosystems.
“Over 50,000 people wrote letters to their MPPs, the premier and the ministers of the environment and municipal affairs to oppose these cuts” said Lyn Adamson of ClimateFast “We could have had hundreds if not thousands here today, We chose to keep things small for safety reasons. The Ontario government is choosing profits for their developer buddies over people, nature and key climate change adaptation strategies.”
“The Ontario public will not forget this. It is a betrayal of future generations.” said Sharon Bider of ClimateFast, attending at Queen’s Park with her granddaughter.
“People in Ontario are increasingly recognizing the importance of protections for wetlands, woodlands and wildlife as contributing to their own health, safety and quality of life especially in the months of Covid restrictions “ said Katie Krelove, Ontario campaigner with the Wilderness Committee, “it’s really shocking that the Ford government continues to work against the public interest and gut environmental oversight against public outcry.”
We invite the media to join us for photo ops and interviews from 9-10AM, Tuesday Dec. 8, 2020 on the front lawn of Queen’s Park.
Katie Krelove, Wilderness Committee, katie@wildernesscommittee.org cell: 647-208-4026
Lyn Adamson, Co-Chair, ClimateFast, lyn@climatefast.ca, cell: 416-731-6605
Statement of Solidarity with Anti-Racism
ClimateFast stands in solidarity with Black Lives Matter and all those fighting against systemic racism and police brutality in North America and around the world. We understand that there can be no climate justice without racial justice.
Leaders of the anti-racism movement are asking us to think about what a truly Just Recovery would look like. We know that the Covid-19 crisis, like the climate crisis, disproportionately impacts racialized and Indigenous peoples. We know that racialized and Indigenous peoples suffer disproportionately from poverty. The reasons for this must be recognized and addressed. In order to achieve a Just Recovery for all, we must commit ourselves to the work of dismantling white supremacy – in ourselves, in our organization, and in our society.
Action Links
Support Black Lives Matter Toronto and other organizations that serve Black people in your community
Listen to Pam Palmater’s Podcast with Desmond Cole on Anti-Black Racism in Canada & US
Read this critical op-ed by Sandy Hudson on why "Defunding the police will save Black and Indigenous lives in Canada"
Learn more about how you can join Just Recovery teach-ins to begin having this conversation in your communities.
Statement of Solidarity with Wet'suwet'en
Dear Premier Horgan and Prime Minister Trudeau,
We are writing because we are appalled at the violence being unleashed on the Wet’suwet’en people who are living on their traditional unceded lands and attempting to protect them from the destruction caused by an unwanted gas pipeline through their territory.
In our view the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People (UNDRIP) which your government has adopted clearly states that consent must be given for resource projects on indigenous lands. The Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs do not consent.
ClimateFast is a citizens initiative based on the knowledge that we must act on climate – fast. There is no time to waste building further fossil fuel infrastructure. All our resources must now be used for the immediate transition to a renewable energy economy. We need to make use of conservation, efficiency, and natural ways to draw carbon down so that we may pass on to our children a living planet, with a habitable climate. At the moment we are on track to 3 degrees or higher increase in global average temperatures, which is not livable. We need to act on climate -now – to prevent this unthinkable future from becoming our children’s reality.
The Indigenous people of this land have shared their wisdom with us. Water is indeed life. And we must think seven generations ahead when we make decisions today – because the impact will be there for the current generation of children growing up today – and for those generations coming.
We need to be building the economy of the future -now – not clinging to the economy of the past. And we must do so while respecting the right of Indigenous nations to say ‘no’.
We call on you to stop the invasion of the Wet’suwet’en territory – now.
Sincerely,
Lyn Adamson
Co-Chair, ClimateFast
(lyn@climatefast.ca)
c/o 60 Lowther Ave. Toronto
M5R 1C7
Past News
Climate Emergency: Climate Inaction will cost us the Earth
Citizens send message to Queen's Park, May 13, 2019: 1044 petitions for Climate Action. Read the media release here.
ClimateFast Member's Letter Published in the Globe and Mail
The Globe and Mail October 1st editorial 'Trump is a hypocrite on climate change. But he’s not alone' prompted ClimateFast member Dan Cameron to put pen to paper. Read his letter here. The original editorial can be read here.
Consultation Period on Bill 4 Now Open
The deadline for submitting comments is October 11 and ClimateFast is holding a gathering on October 3rd, 6:30pm at 60 Lowther Ave to discuss and submit their comments. If you can not attend, you can submit comments online https://ero.ontario.ca/notice/013-3738. Background information to help with your comments can be found here.
ClimateFast member letter-to-the-editor published in Scarborough Mirror
ClimateFast member, Rosemary Boissonneau, wrote a letter to editor of Scarborough Mirror on the changes to Toronto City Council, Bill 5. It appeared in print August 16 and is up on the Toronto.com website. Click here to read her letter.
ClimateFast hosts Theatre of the Oppressed
On August 15th, ClimateFast held a evening of Theatre of the Oppressed facilitated by Pavla Uppal. 20 members and friends of ClimateFast had the opportunity to express their feelings about the climate change crisis and the Ford's government inaction on the issue. Read Lyn Adamson's compelling story on how she was able to find closure through an evening of Theatre of the Oppressed.
VOCAL Rally at Queen's Park
ClimateFast held a rally at Queen’s Park on August 14th to bring attention to the need for provincial government action on climate change. Read more.
ClimateFast launches new campaign at Queen's Park Demonstration
ClimateFast was at Queen’s Park, August 14, calling on the provincial government to take action on climate change. This is part of their new campaign VOCAL: Voices of Ontarians for Carbon Accountability and Leadership. Read our press release here.
ClimateFast letter
ClimateFast sends letter to Rod Philips, Minister of the Environment, Conservation and Parks over the scrapping of Cap and Trade. See letter here.
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