With all the tangible emergencies that Sudburians face daily, while attempting to travel from one end of the city to another, our city council decided to unanimously pass a motion to declare a “climate emergency” in Sudbury.
The net effect of this motion will be to spend taxpayers’ dollars to have staff create yet another report, the “Climate Change and Adaptation Plan,” which no doubt will cost thousands of dollar and waste hundreds of hours of staff's time — time which would be better spent dealing with the real emergencies that exist in our city. In the end, this latest report will end up on a shelf gathering dust along with a long list of previous reports.
This motion is nothing more than virtue signaling which will join past attempts at virtue signaling such as the no idling bylaw passed in 2012 that was going to clean up our air, reduce hospital visits, and lead to fewer premature deaths.
If there are any statistics that show any reduction in the above-mentioned rates locally, in the past seven years, as a result of this bylaw, I’ve not been able to find them, and my instinct tells me that they probably don’t exist.
I find it ironic that our council can quickly and unanimously pass a motion that wastes scarce financial resources on something that is nothing more than a symbolic gesture to the climate change hysteria that seems to be wagging the dog these days.
If our council wanted to really do something within their power and mandate to address a true “emergency,” they would tackle the infrastructure emergency that is a clear and present threat to the long-term viability and continued livability of our city.
There are already multiple studies and reports that all say the same thing: our road, sewer and water infrastructure are deteriorating faster that they are being renewed.
What is needed is a council that recognizes that infrastructure renewal is an immediate priority, and needs to be addressed as a “true emergency.” Failure to do so will have a far greater and immediate negative impact on the viability and quality of life for the citizens of Sudbury, than the climate hysteria that they currently seem to be preoccupied with.
If this council truly wants to guarantee the future livability of our city, they would be dedicating all of their time and resources to dealing with the elephant in the room, our infrastructure deficit. Without quality infrastructure, it won’t matter how many event centres, libraries and art galleries you build, or virtue signals you send, we will be a community in decline.
And ultimately a dysfunctional community incapable of providing the basic services of sewer, water and roads.
That will be the cold, hard reality of not making the hard decisions now.
Let’s see some real leadership and unanimity on the part of council with respect to the “real emergency,” not another report or study but some real substantive commitment to infrastructure renewal.
Dan Melanson
Sudbury