Help keep environment budget from the chopping block at city hall!
The City of Ottawa's draft 2010 budget has been released and public consultations are underway. You can take action by letting city council know that funding to support the health of our environment is important to you!
The draft budget shows considerable improvement over previous years' budgets in certain areas, such as cycling and pedestrian infrastructure and energy efficiency improvements to city-owned buildings. Unfortunately, these could all still be targeted for cuts before the budget is finalized.
Other environmentally beneficial programs and services—such as public transit, essential tree maintenance, and implementation of the tree protection by-law—have already been marked for deep cuts or elimination.
For more details, check out Ecology Ottawa's summary of the key environmental components of the draft budget, which can be downloaded below:
Council needs to hear from you before they finalize the budget during the last week of January!
You can provide feedback to the City of Ottawa on the draft budget in any (or all!) of the following ways:
• E-mail
• Call 311 with your comments
• Fax 613-560-2126
• Attend a councillor ward consultation (taking place December 10 to January 20)
•
Register as a public delegation at City Council (sitting as Committee
of the Whole starting January 25) by contacting 613-580-2424, ext.
12487 or by e-mail at
To stay informed of our action alerts and get updates on key local environmental issues and events, sign up for Ecology Ottawa's e-mail updates. We will send no more than two updates each month.
Previous Ecology Ottawa action alerts
Sign the petition to end the transit strike. It's time to let city council know that we want an end to the transit strike, and we want it now! (January 2009)
Coalition for a Healthy Ottawa
Petition ‒ urge city council to pass a bylaw to restrict the non-essential use of lawn and garden pesticides. Supporters of a ban include: CHEO, the Ottawa Hospital, the Canadian Cancer Society, the Ontario College of Family Physicians and the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment.
Across Canada, pesticide bylaws already protect 127 communities, including the entire Province of Québec. Let's send a strong message to City Hall ‒ we need a bylaw in Ottawa, to protect our health and the environment. Pesticide Bylaw Petition
Below download a hard copy of the petition.