When 87 year old Mississauga Mayor Hazel McCallion biked 7 kilometres to her office on September 22nd 2008, it signaled the success of Car Free Day. The act allowed the Sierra Club Ontario to celebrate its success in getting politicians and governments onboard with our movement. After all, when the “Queen of Sprawl”ť comes on board as a transit and active transportation advocate, change is truly happening.
A lot of hard Sierra Club Ontario work and sweat produced a dramatic transformation in Toronto and Mississauga. This difficult journey began back in 2001 with the Club introducing Car Free Day to the City of Toronto. It is an understatement to say that at the time the City did not immediately see the wisdom of joining the United Nations and the European Union in supporting the concept of urban mobility not dependent on cars.
Our first successful event on St. George Street lead to neighbourhood CFD celebrations. But, several attempts at creating a working partnership with the City failed to gain traction. Then, in 2006, Councillor Adam Giambrone, now Chair of the TTC, became the catalyst that brought the City and the Club into Car Free Day partnership. Councillor Kyle Rae also stepped up and offered to host Toronto’s first official CFD in his ward on Yonge-Dundas Square and the adjacent part of Yonge Street. Mayor David Miller and his office came onboard.
Toronto Car Free Day 2008 was the biggest and best attended to date. Over 100,000 people participated. The event highlight was Mayor Miller introducing and turning the stage over to Canadian Idol’s Mookie Morris.
2008 also saw CFD catch on big time in Mississauga—just look at Mayor McCallion’s ride. With the lead sponsorship of the Ontario Ministry of Transportation (MTO), SCO produced Car Free Day in the GTA 2008. Mississauga held its first public CFD celebration on September 20th which set the stage for the Mayor’s ride which the media loved.
Globally, Car Free Day typically enjoys its greatest success when governments join the party in a big way. Sierra Club’s success in Southern Ontario has followed that formula. Starting with our initial 2001 unofficial event, year by year the Club has increased government buy-in of CFD. The Government of Ontario has committed, through MTO, to again be top sponsor. Our working partnerships with the Cities of Toronto and Mississauga are continuing as we get ready for Car Free Day in the GTA 2009. Mississauga’s enthusiasm is extending their CFD commitment into a second big event. July 1st in Mississauga will be Car Free Canada Day.
Car Free Day has caught on big in the GTA with bigger and better to come. The September celebration also has become the day when the legion of Sierra Club volunteers come out to work, play and party.
We’ll see you in September (or, hopefully, before).
Posted by Dan McDermott, Director on 05/24
Stopping Sprawl
Janet Pelley started Sierra Club Ontario’s Challenge to Sprawl campaign in 2000. The concept of protecting the natural areas and green space of Southern Ontario was already well established but often relegated to the category of lost causes.
In 2003 Janet released SCO’s Sprawl Hurts Us All Report. She had previously authored similar reports for the states of Maryland and Virginia. The Ontario report identified the many threats to the remnant beauty and ecology of our province as well as the positive prescription for smart growth that would leave us with natural areas, farmland and greenspace.
At this time Sierra Club Ontario volunteers were hard at work in their communities struggling to control the beast of sprawl development. By the time the McGuinty Government launched the Ontario Greenbelt in 2005, SCO’s Ottawa Group already had a substantial record of effective opposition to sprawl and highway growth. The centrepiece of which was and is the campaign to preserve the Leitrim Wetlands.
In Mississauga, community activist Peter Orphanos began his efforts to preserve the Credit River watershed many years before founding SCO’s Peel Region Group. Sierra Club Peel quickly became a magnet for residents who had experienced seemingly endless sprawl and knew that it was time for smart planning and smart growth.
The Ontario Greenbelt has provided anti-sprawl advocates with a concept to hold up to public view and a base from which to campaign to enhance the Greenbelt vision into an expanded image. The current Greenbelt is more a political than an ecological construct. The Ontario Government’s Growing the Greenbelt program provides inspiration to complete the canvass.
Sierra Club work to protect our remnant natural areas and green space attracts volunteers to defend what they cherish and fear the loss of. Bernadette Zubrisky grew up by the banks of Duffins Creek in Durham Region. Bernadette brought her commitment to stop the rampage of development that threatens this intact watershed to the Club. Her first campaign target was and continues to be to stop the proposed Pickering airport.
Brooke Erickson is succeeding Janet Pelley as SCO Challenge to Sprawl Chair. Brooke is a Club veteran who started by organizing a Toronto Earth Day event, worked with Sierra Youth Coalition’s Sustainable Campuses program and now is working with Sierra Club volunteers to continue the work of ensuring that we leave a green and healthy Ontario to the next generation of Sierra Club activists.
Join with Brooke, Janet, Peter, Bernadette and other folks who embody the Sierra Club spirit. Say no to sprawl and yes to protecting what we must preserve here in our home.
There’s a place for you on the team.
Posted by Dan McDermott, Director on 05/21
Sierra Club Saves The Great Lakes—Well, We Helped
Okay, so we had a little help.
The Sierra Club—with Sierra Club Ontario playing a pivotal role—helped stop Great Lakes governments from approving a plan that would have drained the water out of the largest fresh water lake system in the world.
The crisis hit in September 2004 when we got word that the Council of Great Lakes Governors, with the support of Ontario and Quebec, were about to approve a scheme that would effectively be a plan to divert water out of the Great Lakes basin. With Elizabeth May in the lead, Sierra Club, in both Canada and the US, loudly and publicly demanded that this deal be scrapped.
Our first breakthrough was in Ontario. In November 2004, Ontario Minister of Natural Resources David Ramsay announced his government’s 180 degree reversal. Ramsay clearly stated that Ontario would demand that the parties resume negotiations with the goal of achieving an agreement that held to the principle of “no diversions, or at least no net loss”.
The Club continued our coordinated campaign in cooperation with other Great Lakes advocates in Ontario, Quebec and the 8 Great Lakes states. The Ontario Government made the very wise decision to work with Sierra Club as negotiations resumed on the Great Lakes Charter Annex. Sierra Club Ontario Great Lakes/Water Chair Dr. Lino Grima and SCO Director Dan McDermott joined the Government’s Annex Advisory Panel (AAP) and over the next 4 years played a strong insider role in keeping Ontario and the Annex process on track.
The end result was a resounding environmental victory. With constant advice and encouragement from the SCO team, the Ontario Government stayed the course and delivered on their November 2004 promise. The final signature that confirmed the Great Lakes Charter Agreement was that of US President George W. Bush in the last days of his presidency.
Much more work must be done to ensure that the signing governments hold to their commitments and deliver on their promises to get serious about water conservation. Lino and Dan continue to work as part of the renamed Agreement Advisory Panel to make sure that Ontario establishes a rigorous conservation regime. More work is ongoing to get Ontario to stop shifting water between watersheds within the Great Lakes basin. This practice, allowed with some restrictions under the Agreement, is contributing to the decline in water levels in the upper lakes.
Sierra Club Ontario is proud of our successful campaign to keep Great Lakes water in the Great Lakes. Our mission now is to use this victory to ensure that the people and the government of Ontario continue on the path to Great Lakes sustainability.
Sierra Club members once again made a difference achieving an environmental victory.
Posted by Dan McDermott, Director on 05/15
Did you once dream of making our world a better place? This is the place to start dreaming again. What you do here will make a difference. Absolutely. Unconditionally.
You will make a difference.
The Sierra Club of Canada is a grassroots volunteer-driven organization. Our most important work is accomplished by member-volunteers.
We provide a framework within which you, as a member, get to decide for yourself what campaigns you'd like to pursue and how you'd like to contribute. You get to do what interests you the most, and there's lots to choose from.
This isn't empty consumer sloganism. We're not saying you'll get healthy by buying our running shoes or that you'll find community by drinking our coffee or that you'll get sexy by wearing our underwear (although with us you've probably got a better chance with some of those things than with the corporateers).
What we promise is this . . . your effort can help save the planet.
Sierra Club Ontario Office
24 Mercer Street,
Toronto, Ontario
M5V 1H3 416-960-6075 info@sierraclub.on.ca
