We would like to offer our…

We would like to offer our most sincere thanks for the opportunity to contribute to this consultation process.

The City of Guelph has established itself as a leader in climate action. The Guelph Community Energy Plan was the first municipal energy plan in the country when it was approved by Council in 2007, and it continued to lead on this file when it became the Community Energy Initiative (CEI). Guelph continues to break new ground on climate action through the update to the CEI, which is scheduled for completion in the 2nd quarter of 2018.

COMMENTS

In general, we are supportive of the proposed approach to climate adaptation. We believe that the proposed “one window” concept will facilitate the development and implementation of municipal climate change adaptation and resilience plans. This will help reduce communities’ exposure to climate change shocks such as extreme weather events, as well as chronic stresses such as long-term drought.

We have the following specific comments on the proposed approach: 1.There is no standard or generally accepted methodology for climate adaptation and resilience planning. This makes it difficult for neighbouring communities to integrate their efforts on this file. It is our hope that the proposed organization will provide the necessary standards to facilitate inter-municipal integration of climate adaptation plans and programs. The approach that was employed to integrate emergency response plans between municipalities could serve as a helpful model for how this new organization might facilitate inter-municipal integration and collaboration on this file. 2.For organizations that cover multiple municipalities, such as telecommunications providers, natural gas suppliers, and electricity LDCs, it may be prohibitive to collaborate on climate adaptation and resilience planning with all municipalities in their service area. For example, when the City of Toronto prepared its climate adaptation plan, the organizing committee found it difficult to engage with telecommunications providers. The proposed organization could act as a conduit for these interactions, effectively acting as a single point of contact for multi-municipal organizations and making it more likely that they would engage meaningfully in planning efforts. This might be modeled on the approach that was used for source water protection committees.

CONCLUSION

The City asks that these comments and recommendations be taken into consideration when implementing the proposed approach for climate adaptation in Ontario.

Sincerely,

Mario Petricevic
General Manager Facilities Management City of Guelph
T 519-822-1260 x 2668
E mario.petricevic@guelph.ca

Alex Chapman Manager, Climate Change Office
Facilities Management City of Guelph
T 519-822-1260 x 3324
E alex.chapman@guelph.ca

[Original Comment ID: 212090]