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Ecology Ottawa sets the bar on environment for council, mayoral candidates
Group mobilizing residents in every ward to challenge candidates on environmental issues
March 4, 2010 With less than eight months to go before Ottawa votes in a new city council, Ecology Ottawa has announced it is mobilizing residents in all wards to challenge electoral candidates to take a stand on key environmental challenges facing the city. "We are asking Ottawans to come together and send the message to candidates that we care about the environment, and we vote," said Graham Saul, chair of Ecology Ottawa. "Those who want to represent us at city hall need to show that they understand, care about, and are prepared to take action on pressing environmental issues." The group is working in each of the city's 23 wards mobilizing residents to find out where their candidates stand on environmental issues and then reach out and educate their neighbours. As a start, it has organized an online networking and discussion forum for each ward on Facebook. Ecology Ottawa is also preparing a questionnaire for all candidates in the mayoral and councillor races which will ask them to take positions on key environmental issues like air and water pollution, threatened biodiversity, and waste. To develop the questionnaire, it is surveying Ottawa residents through an online survey to see which environmental issues they would most want to see their candidates address. In addition, the group is developing a platform of environmental policy ideas that it will ask candidates to take a position on. Another key focus will be informing residents about the past performance of their mayor and councillors. The group is broadly distributing postcards displaying council members' grades on the environmental report cards issued by Ecology Ottawa and the Sierra Club Ottawa Group every year since 2006. Residents are being urged to send the postcards to their councillors to show them that they know and care about their performance on environmental issues. "Most current councillors have been serving for two or more terms, so we have a record going back to 2003 of how they've voted on key decisions like implementing the city's climate change plan or protecting urban forests," said Lori Waller, Ecology Ottawa's policy and communications coordinator. All materials related to Ecology Ottawa's municipal election efforts, including links to the ward-specific Facebook groups, an electronic version of the postcard to councillors, and current council members' grades on environmental report cards, can be found online at www.ecologyottawa.ca/election.
About Ecology Ottawa: Ecology Ottawa is a non-profit, volunteer-driven organization working to make Ottawa the green capital of Canada. We believe that Ottawa residents are concerned about issues such as pollution, waste, and global warming, and that they want the city to show environmental leadership. We are working with residents and organizations across the city to ensure that these concerns are heard at city hall. Find out more and sign up for our e-mail updates at www.ecologyottawa.ca.
Media Contacts: Graham Saul, Chair, 613-558-3368, graham@ecologyottawa.ca Lori Waller, Policy & Communications Coordinator, 613-860-5353, lori@ecologyottawa.ca - 30 -
2010_budget_Ecology_Ottawa_comments.pdf
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