Parkdale—High Park has always been at the forefront of Toronto’s environmental movement. We have pushed the City forward on important issues, but more work needs to be done. Toronto City Council needs to act now to reduce emissions, protect people from more intense storms, heatwaves, and flooding, and build a zero-waste economy.
I have had the honour of being the first chair of Toronto's committee to handle the climate crisis, TransformTO. What started as a small subcommittee turned into one of the most ambitious emissions reduction strategies in North America, designed to protect our city’s future from the effects of climate change.
What We’ve Done
- laid the foundation for the city’s climate work, through building a coalition on City Council to pass TransformTO, working with council members of all political stripes to take meaningful action on the climate crisis.
- TransformTO aims to get community-wide greenhouse gas emissions in Toronto to net zero by 2040—10 years earlier than initially proposed.
Our Work Ahead
- Secure dedicated and sustained climate funding.
- Purchase the TTC buses needed now to fulfill our climate action plan
- Demonstrate carbon accountability by establishing a carbon budget for City operations and the community as a whole.
- Accelerate a rapid and significant reduction in natural gas use.
- Establish performance targets for existing buildings across Toronto.
- Increase access to low-carbon transportation options, including walking, biking, public transit and electric vehicles.
- Increase local renewable energy to contribute to a resilient, carbon-free grid.
Between the waterfront, High Park, the Humber River, and our communities parks and parkettes, Parkdale—High Park has an active and important role to play in protecting our natural environment.
What We've Done
- Brought together Parks, Forestry, and Recreation staff and our local parks groups to work together to protect our natural landscapes
- Pushed our small business communities and Transportation staff to move to natural species for their plantings.
Our Work Ahead
- Remediation work is needed to protect Grenadier Pond for future generations.
- Protecting our beaches and waterfront parks from erosion through improved landscaping
- Creating more parkspace on our waterfront through the Waterfront West Master
- Continuing to build our urban canopy, which helps reduce ambient temperature and build climate resilient neighbourhoods
- Creating more opportunities for recreation along the waterfront, like investments in the Martin Goodman Trail and much-needed upgrades to Lake Ontario breakwalls.
We are seeing first hand the effects of climate change on our community. Toronto must implement an effective plan to achieve its climate resilience goals to support our communities to prepare for and respond to the impacts of extreme weather, including flooding and heatwaves.
Our Work Ahead
- Expand all-year access to washrooms and water fountains in public parks and spaces in our ward, and across the city
- Implement a fair stormwater charge that will make polluters pay for stormwater reduction and flood proofing projects
- Establishing climate resilient building design and construction guidelines for all new buildings in the City of Toronto
