Media Advisory
For Immediate Release
August 18, 2008
FCM Mission to Study Successful Sustainability
OSHAWA – Councillor Louise Parkes will be attending a conference of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities in British Columbia, along with other local municipal leaders from across Canada to learn more about sustainable communities.
Delegates to the conference will learn valuable information regarding energy and environmental policies and strategies, sustainable transportation, Brownfield remediation, infrastructure design and efficiency, and sustainable water and waste management.
”As Oshawa moves forward, it is imperative that our technologies, social institutions, and residents’ honour, support, and cooperate with nature's inherent ability to sustain life. I am committed to developing Oshawa’s natural and economic assets to stimulate growth and employment,“ said Councillor Parkes. Parkes also stated she was selected by FCM to attend, and the cost of the trip is underwritten by FCM and numerous sponsors. However, Councillor Parkes will personally pay for airfare, meals and approximately 60 percent of the delegate fee since the mission affords an invaluable opportunity to network with peers in comparable fiscal and regulatory environments.
Parkes stated, ”Sustainable development will not be brought about by policy alone. Sustainable development must be embraced by society at large as a guiding principle, and it has an impact on the many choices each citizen makes every day. This requires profound changes in thinking, in social structure and economics, and in consumption and production patterns.“
Sustainable development is a fundamental objective of the European Union. Past FCM missions have traveled to countries including Finland, Denmark, the Netherlands, Sweden, Germany and England. There are a number of Canadian communities that have developed key sustainable sites which will be featured as part of the FCM mission, such as British Columbia’s Burnaby Waste-to-Energy Plant, Victoria’s Gulf Islands National Park Reserve Operations Centre and Victoria's Dockside Green.
There will be a tour of the National Works Yard, home to one of the first buildings in Canada to receive LEED Gold Certification (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design), an accreditation currently being sought by the City of Oshawa with the revitalization of City Hall. LEED allows buildings to decrease their impact on the environment, increase energy and water savings and increase occupant productivity.
The FCM mission travels to the District of Squamish, located halfway between Vancouver and Whistler, also known as the Outdoor Recreation Capital of Canada where conservation is imperative to the sustainability of this booming community.
FCM will visit Whistler, world-renowned as the site of the alpine and Nordic venues for the Vancouver 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, and tour the Whistler Public Library and the Olympic Athletes' Village. Whistler's urban landscape was specifically designed to accommodate the natural environment, a decision that has lead to vast economic benefits for the area.
”There are a number of initiatives that are underway in Oshawa that set us apart, including the work that is being done by Friends of the Second Marsh,“ said Parkes. ”The Second Marsh is not only the largest remaining urban wetland in the GTA but the largest wetland between the Niagara Peninsula and Presqu'ile. It is a valuable resource to the Oshawa area and contributed greatly to the city winning the highest level award from the 2001-to-2005 Communities in Bloom competitions.“
This community-based project contributes to the overall clean-up of the Great Lakes, demonstrates technologies to rehabilitate fish and wildlife habitat, addresses environmental issues common to most coastal Great Lakes Wetlands and their connecting watersheds and serves as a model, promoting the value of co-operation, partnership and environmental citizenship.
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