Good morning, Chair Lehmann, Mayors and members of Muskoka District Council,
Pursuant to the discussion that took place at the December 7, 2023 Committee of the Whole on the 2024 District Budget with respect to climate change, we would like to highlight the results of the District’s own recent GHG Public Survey (2023) on climate action and climate spending (see stats below). During the discussion, councillors made multiple comments suggesting that it is the community that needs to lead with respect to climate action. We disagree.
Results of the survey clearly indicate that the public wants and expects you, our elected leaders, to act on climate to increase our local ambition in “transitioning away from fossil fuels in energy systems, in a just, orderly and equitable manner” as agreed to today by nearly 200 countries at COP28 in Dubai.
The results of last summer’s survey indicate that a significant majority of the Muskoka citizenry is not only ready to spend their own money on climate initiatives, but also wants to see local governments spend more on climate initiatives in line with holding global heating to no more than 1.5C. We need to see Muskoka District Council “Tackling the Change”. Once again Climate Action Muskoka requests that you:
- set up a specific Climate Change Reserve Fund in the 2024 Budget as called for in A New Leaf: Muskoka’s Climate Strategy initiative from 2020
- fund the hiring of one, better two, full-time staff who have climate experience and training to support the Climate Initiatives Coordinator in rolling out the upcoming District community GHG reduction plan promised for early 2024
Results of Muskoka’s Public Greenhouse Gas survey Summer, 2023:
368 surveys completed
68% of participants are extremely concerned about climate change in Muskoka in the future.
85% of participants think it is important for the Muskoka community to act on climate change
85% of participants are willing to spend their money on a climate change related initiative
***65% of participants think that local governments should be spending more taxpayer money on initiatives related to climate change***
Regards,
Sue McKenzie, Gravenhurst
Len Ring, Gravenhurst
Tamsen Tillson, Bracebridge
Linda Mathers, Port Carling
Lesley Hastie, Huntsville
On behalf of Climate Action Muskoka
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Climate alarmism is a multi billion dollar a year business.Canada’s carbon footprint is approximate 2%. Studies have shown that people who own electric vehicles are paying the equivalent of approximately $17.00 per gallon of gasoline. Let’s not forget the strain on the grid to charge these symbols of vanity.
In the U.S., they have taken up large areas of land, installed electric charging stations and power them with diesel generators. Talk about hypocrisy.
By all means, let’s jump on the bandwagon, hire more people and increase taxes, because two million visits to the foodbank per month in Ontario isn’t enough.
Well, I don’t want to spend any of my money on climate initiatives. I have no children, grandchildren, and so on whose futures concern me. If you have descendants, and if you’re worried about their futures, then you pay for it. Me, I actually think I deserve a free pass on climate change costs and carbon taxation and such … I already did my part just by choosing not to procreate.
Contrary to what “Climate Action Muskoka” zealots maintain, there is NO “climate emergency”. Over 1,600 scientists deny that there is anything close to an emergency and many of the most skilled are skeptical that the climate is changing as a result of what mankind is doing. THE EARTH HAS WARMED (more than now) AND COOLED (starving large numbers of people in northern Europe as a result) IN RECORDED HISTORY.. It is a callous and possibly even murderous mission to restrict the supply of energy to the poorest among us.
The IPCC / U.N. bureaucrats appear to be content with the 2050 phase-out timeline. Even they concede that a small amount of fossil fuel will still be necessary in 2050. The President of Cop28, Sultan Al Jaber–the host of the conference, was pleased that a compromise was able to be worked out between the “chicken little” crowd like Al Gore (does he still own 200,000 shares of Occidental Petroleum?) and John Kerry, who hypocritically jet all over the world selling panic to the young ignoramuses who attempt to “protest” by defacing art work and gluing their hands to pavement.
Al Jaber, along with most of the others at the confab came to the conclusion that “an orderly and just transition” is in the best interest of the world’s people. An absolute ban would desperately hurt those most vulnerable–in a world that is currently starved for energy. There are many energy development projects in the works and, if they are economically feasible, will be implemented sooner rather than later.
As has been stated above, Climate Action Muskoka has NO mandate to ask the citizens of Huntsville, at the expense of their already bloated tax bill, to fund yet another bureaucrat (“preferably two” in Climate Action Muskoka’s wording). What would these new hire(s) do? Sit around congratulating themselves? Dictatorial, top-down government simply does not work at the local level. Thus, the reason why socialism/communism’s central control of all things always fails. Someone needs to inform those in this group of same.
Our tax rate increases are already unacceptable so this group needs to fund raise (annually) to pay for it if it is important to them. No more costs downloaded to taxpayers. Further I agree with the feedback that the survey results are less then 1 percent of the population so it does not represent the views of the public.
In response to Brian Tapley’s questions about heat pumps, we have a heat pump which was installed in 2003. We also have a natural gas furnace. Our thermostat keeps track of when the furnace should be on and when the heat pump should be used. In the initial set-up the heat pump was programmed to come on at a fairly low temperature, maybe 10º F, I don’t quite remember the exact setting. The problem was that our house would not warm up until mid-afternoon. We run the house inside at 69ºF. So we had the contractor come back and set it so the heat pump would only come on if the outside temperature was 25ºF or higher. This seems to be working out now. Maybe newer heat pumps do a better job but don’t hold your breath thinking that you can get by with only a heat pump as your source of heat in our climate.
I totally agree!!
There are systemic changes we need to make that are beyond the scope of individuals and are only possible when those individuals work together as a community . We need leadership and initiative from all fronts including the municipal government. Thank you Sue McKenzie of Gravenhurstv, Len Ring of Gravenhurst, Tamsen Tillson of Bracebridge, Linda Mathers, of Port Carling, and Lesley Hastie of Huntsville for joining together as Climate Action Muskoka to advocate on behalf of us all.
Sincerely and with urgency,
Meg Jordan, Huntsville and Lake of Bays
I applaud any action on climate (what I like to call) “preservation”.
This said, if is imperative that action be economically affordable for the people wishing to help out with actual action.
In my case, I already have some solar generation installed. It should help I’m told. I’d love to have more but the red tape involved and the varying rates offered as compensation make it difficult to impossible for me to proceed on this.
As an example, I’d like to put in more generation and use it in a “net metering” set up for my business. This is indeed allowed for by government but the catch is that currently the net metering panels must be “on the building with the meter to which the generation is to be applied” or some such legal wording.
Well, I have land, I know this as I pay tax each year on it.
My “metering” is central for many buildings so it is nearly impossible to determine which building solar would actually apply to. Also, my buildings were constructed long ago and most don’t align to solar ambitions very well. Not only that but building officials are a bunch of doubting types and not wishing to take any possible risk, want an expensive engineering analysis of any old roof to which one might want to add panels. Also on a simple and practical level, panels on roofs make the roof prone to more leakage and roof replacement becomes a major major major item and quite simply the old roof area and looks are lousy with panels hanging at random on the rood.
No, I’d rather put the panes on the ground, somewhere reasonably close to my location on land I already own. This way, no roofs, no change in looks, lots of area on which to work etc. All that is needed is for Hydro to accumulate my generation amount, in the time I make it, at the rate they charge me and then at month end do the arithmetic so I pay the net amount. Ideally I should be able to spread this new generation across several currently active accounts where I purchase energy. Even more ideally, maybe I could use the generation value to offset my Propane and Oil costs as well.
They won’t let me do this. It is beyond their ability to do simple arithmetic. More likely it is beyond the interest of politicians to enable this type of action. and since there is nothing to be made in it, Hydro is (shall we say) less than enthusiastic about helping with this.
If I could do this, it would make economic sense and the savings (remember changes have to be funded) I could accumulate (if they were not taxed heavily) to use to buy and install heat pumps and thus gradually remove my use of propane and oil entirely from the mix.
None of this will happen in the current bureaucratic and legislative environment. Maybe we should start here, with our civic, provincial and federal leaders working to make things like this an affordable course of action.
They could also give us some straight facts on alternatives to oil and gas. I’m led to believe several things,
One is that heat pumps are the way to go.
Two, is that to my knowledge, heat pumps are not very efficient below maybe 20 F
I’m told that “low temperature heat pumps” can work in colder ambient temps but details are more of less absent.
So, maybe while they are legislating, our officials could put out some information about these heat pumps.
– Can heat pumps work down to -30 C as it gets this cold at my house.
– Where can one find out about these heat pumps? What do they cost? What is involved in installation in an older building?
Currently there are claims and ads floating about, but it is hard to separate fact from fiction. Clarification would be a good start for our leaders to work on.
Climate change is a fallacy that most people do not buy into. Canada has a carbon neutral footprint as indicated by stats Canada. We are less than 2% of all carbon emissions around the world, due to our expansive forests lakes and rivers.
Climate change for Canadians is preservation of our forests and wetlands. Limiting growth in areas needed for wildlife habitats and controlling the ecological impacts of urbanization to profiteering construction that strips away vast natural habitats for development.
We must look at higher buildings with less urban sprawl. We need green space that encompassed minimal 1 acre lots of sustainable vegetation that feed the animals we so quickly forget.
Climate change is a phrase used for taxation. It pulls money out of the pockets of those who can not afford it and strains the economy.
Electric vehicles put a strain on our already strained electrical grid causing blackouts in the US and brown outs because of the draw necessary to power these electrical vehicles.
Batteries for these vehicles take a tremendous toll on the environment, while we strip mine to extract the elements necessary for their production.
Climate Action doesn’t have a mandate their respondants were less than .25% of the population.
No more taxes. No more CarbonTaxatuon and No more spending without a referendum on the use of tax dollars.
Having a recognized climate expert on staff to guide policy in all areas would be a very smart move.