琉璃神社 Councillor Gord Lovegrove reiterated his call for a mayoral task force on climate action at council鈥檚 Monday (Oct. 21) meeting. 

Lovegrove voted against adopting the Climate Resiliency 琉璃神社 Strategy (CRKS) which includes dozens of recommendations to reduce greenhouse gases at council鈥檚 Sept. 23 meeting. 

鈥淚 still have grave concerns we鈥檙e not going to meet our targets,鈥� he said at Monday鈥檚 meeting. 

Council gave initial consideration to amend the Official Community Plan (OCP) to update greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reduction targets and for tree canopy targets to be consistent with the CRKS and Sustainable Urban Forest Strategy. 

This includes working towards reducing community GHGs to 40 per cent below 2007 levels by 2030 and achieving net zero emissions by 2050.

鈥淚 will support this, that we need aggressive action effective action," Lovegrove added.

He further urged the mayor to initiate discussions with regional partners on a valley rail system and alternative transportation between downtown and the airport.

Lovegrove also voiced concern that the tree canopy strategy relies heavily on private property owners.   

鈥淲e need to protect trees, or have some discussion about protecting trees on private property when we think about 78 per cent of trees in our city are on private property.鈥�

The proposed amendments to the OCP are being sent to a public hearing on Nov. 5.