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Montreal is on the road to greater livability, and other cities should follow
by Charles Feaver 04 Jul '22

04 Jul '22

Monday editorial in the Globe and Mail: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/editorials/article-montreal-is-on-th e-road-to-greater-livability-and-other-cities-should/ Fifteen years ago, the defining symbol of Montreal was the pothole. Every time a driver kathunked over a crater in the asphalt, it felt like a reminder of the corruption, mismanagement and malaise of a faded metropolis. Today there are still a lot of potholes in Montreals streets. Its not Zurich. But the city also has a new infrastructural hallmark, with a happier story to tell. That would be the humble bike lane, whose narrow painted lines represent a particular kind of urban revival. Call it the theory of livability. Other cities should take note. When Valérie Plante became mayor in 2017, cyclists knew they had a champion at City Hall. Her party, Projet Montréal, had already become famous, or infamous, for transforming the boroughs it governed like the bourgeois-bohemian Plateau-Mont-Royal into more walkable, bikeable places that were also notably more difficult to drive in. Projet had many weapons in its self-confessed war on the car in the Plateau. It narrowed streets, made others one-way, expanded and beautified sidewalks, and above all built bike lanes. They perfectly expressed the partys green, Europe-inflected vision. In the past five years, Ms. Plante has taken that ethos citywide. The defining policy of her first term was the 184-kilometre REV bike highway. It has been a hit, even producing an unexpected and quite wonderful problem: bicycle traffic jams. Her suburban critics might disagree, but the mayor doesnt have a fetish for getting around on two wheels, even if that happens to be her lifestyle preference Ms. Plante lives in the trendy Rosemont neighbourhood, without a car. But making cities livable also benefits society as a whole. As she likes to explain, cycling represents a concept of the city that Canada could use more of. Bike lanes are part of a broader vision designed to ensure that dense city centres stay attractive to young families, to curb urban sprawl. Pandemic-era remote work tempted some people to drift out of commuting range from downtown offices. The shift is probably mostly temporary, but a mortgage in the Laurentians or Guelph makes a powerful argument for keeping the home office. Between the summers of 2020 and 2021, Montreal lost nearly 40,000 people to other parts of the province, the most in 20 years. Now in her second term after a landslide re-election, Ms. Plante is building an argument for why cities are still the best, most vibrant places to live, even in the era of remote work. The results have been impressive. On top of all those bike lanes, shes trying to use her limited municipal levers to make homes a bit more affordable (although another Montrealer, Bank of Canada governor Tiff Macklem, may do more toward that end with rising interest rates). Her 20-20-20 policy mandates a certain share of affordable housing in big developments, and the city plans to use its right of first refusal to buy hundreds of properties on which it will build social housing. Like the Gilded Age progressives who dreamed up swathes of urban green space for the masses, the Plante administration is also on a park-building spree. It rapidly expanded the grand parc de louest at the western tip of the Island of Montreal it covers some 30 square kilometres and plans to recreate the feat at the citys eastern edge. With Projet Montréal, the big infrastructure schemes have always come with a healthy concern for the aesthetic. The party has a flair for the design of little things such as curb bump-outs and public planters. Call them frills if you want, but young professionals are less likely to flee a beautiful city. The pedestrianization of Mont-Royal Ave. a busy commercial strip, and one of several streets closed to cars for at least part of the summer shows the Plante recipe in full force: whimsical street furniture, makeshift vegetable gardens, hordes of flâneurs and, yes, headaches for drivers. But then, this mayor has always been comfortable with the trade-off between livability and driveability. Sure, Montreal has some natural advantages in its bike-lane revolution, like tightly packed triplex housing and a layout that long predates the automobile. But a message to other Canadian cities: Forget about Montreals potholes. On the road to creating a greener, more attractive place for people to live, its lapping the field. And its riding a bike. Charles Feaver

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WFP: Free parking helps keep councillors driving to city hall (Jul4'22)
by Beth McKechnie 04 Jul '22

04 Jul '22

Free parking helps keep councillors driving to city hall https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/free-parking-helps-keep-councillors… MOST city councillors, like the majority of Winnipeggers, drive to work, and those commutes help make driving the largest source of greenhouse gas emissions in the city. Despite the city’s plan to slice emissions in the coming decades, one city hall perk makes it hard for councillors to abandon their cars — a free parking pass. Coun. Matt Allard (St. Boniface) says the option of free parking makes it easy to decide to drive to work. “One of the biggest inconveniences of commuting to work downtown is finding that parking spot,” he said. “So not only is it tempting from a financial perspective, because you already have a spot paid for, but also you have the convenience of knowing that there’s going to be a spot for you as soon as you pull in.” But Allard is an exception, having relinquished his free parking pass in 2018. In January that year, Allard, who chairs the public works committee that oversees transit, pledged to take the bus to work every day for a month to get a better understanding of the bus system. When the month came to an end, he decided to say goodbye to his parking pass and instead walk, bike and take the bus as much as possible. “I kind of fell in love with the mode shift and the bus and using different modes of transport in my everyday life,” he said. “And I found that it didn’t make sense anymore for me to have this parking spot because I wasn’t using it.” A Free Press survey of city councillors found Coun. Ross Eadie (Mynarski), who is blind, is the only other councillor who has turned down the parking pass. Though several councillors who responded to the survey said they try to take transit, walk or bike when possible, most indicated the nature of their work, which often requires travelling to meetings across the city in addition to time spent at city hall, makes it hard to give up driving. “Much of my ward that requires my attention to attend to are in areas with poor public transit supports,” said Coun. Shawn Nason (Transcona) in an email. “Demands of the job sometimes make it necessary to bring (a) car in order to attend multiple meetings or events off-site, which is expected of councillors,” said Coun. Brian Mayes (St. Vital). Couns. Jeff Browaty, Kevin Klein, John Orlikow, Vivian Santos and Jason Schreyer, as well as Mayor Brian Bowman, did not respond. Under city policy, the mayor and councillors are offered a free, dedicated parking space near city hall, an annual surface parking card and a monthly $550 transportation allowance, which is to be used for mileage expenses or taxis. Many more city workers receive parking passes. Researchers at Second-Street.org submitted a freedom of information request to the city and found nearly 400 city employees are offered parking passes. The city offers employees the option of a partially subsidized monthly bus pass — called the eco-pass — which allows staff to take the bus at a 30 per cent discount. Between 250 and 300 city staff purchase an eco-pass each month, the city said in a statement. While parking for free at work has long been considered a business standard nationwide, some advocates suggest the time has come to rethink the policy and instead give incentives for low-emission commuter options. All told, residential vehicle use makes up 32 per cent of the city’s greenhouse gas emissions, according to 2011 City of Winnipeg data. That’s in part because more than three-quarters of Winnipeggers drive to work, and about 80 per cent of those trips are made alone, according to Statistics Canada. By contrast, 16 per cent of Winnipeggers commute on the bus, and just seven per cent use active transportation. Mel Marginet is part of the sustainable transportation team at the environmental non-profit organization Green Action Centre. Over the past few decades, she said “it’s become sort of ingrained to offer free parking for employees,” be it through subsidized parking passes or big on-site parking lots. But at the Green Action Centre, Marginet’s team hopes to encourage businesses to do things differently. “There’s no such thing as free parking,” she said. “The message that sends is that you’re considered an employee of value if you’re driving to work; if there isn’t something of equal value to those who are not driving to work, I would question why.” Parking reimbursement for municipal staff cost the city $425,297 in 2021 alone, city staff said in an email. By contrast, the city has spent $27,539 on its share of the eco-pass program in the last three months. There is no option to transfer the value of the parking pass to other modes of transportation. Allard said he would prefer to see the city — and other employers — offer a more flexible transportation benefit to staff. Offering a commuting budget, for example, that could be applied to transit, bikes or parking if employees so choose, would ensure all commuting options are fairly compensated. “Flexibility would allow for Winnipeggers to do what we hope to be able to encourage them to do by providing transportation options, whether that’s taking the bus, biking, walking, being passengers in vehicles, taking up the occasional car-share,” he said. At the Green Action Centre, flexibility is a priority. Staff are offered transit passes or an equivalent dollar value for other modes of transportation. For some, that money is spent on parking, but others choose to spend the benefit on bike maintenance, running shoes and other means of getting to work. Ultimately, changing the way people get to and from work is about interrupting long-held habits and behaviour, Marginet said. With gas prices on the rise and a pandemic prompting the restructuring of the workday, Marginet said people are ready to start rethinking their daily commute. “You have so many people for whom the price to fill up their gas tank has more than doubled in a very short amount of time — just as they’re being expected to go back to work and go back to doing all of the in-person things. It’s really kind of hitting people, just the incredible personal cost of this,” she said. Statistics Canada shows the average price of gas jumped 43 per cent in the last year. With Canadians dedicating almost 20 per cent of their spending to transportation in 2019, the costs of daily driving are set to keep rising. “It would be very disappointing to not encourage or reward employees who are making a healthier, more sustainable, climate-friendly choice,” Marginet said. “If you’re offering a privilege to people who drive, you should at least be offering something of equal value, or perhaps more value, if you want to look at getting your employees to shift their mode of travel.” julia-simone.rutgers(a)freepress.mb.ca

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Economic Study of 12 Active Transportation Projects in Oregon Finds Solid Returns on Investment
by Beth McKechnie 30 Jun '22

30 Jun '22

https://trec.pdx.edu/news/active-transportation-projects-offer-solid-return… Overall, the research team found positive effects on business activity in the retail and/or food sectors, demonstrating that the potential economic benefits are not just in more urban parts of the city of Portland: - 75% of the project locations saw measurable economic gains in the food or retail industries after implementation. - Layering complementary investments (e.g. light rail stations and transit oriented-development) has the potential to yield the greatest benefits. - The projects that did not see positive effects tended to have higher traffic volumes and/or speeds. Projects are more likely to reach their full potential when they reduce the effects of an auto-oriented environment and create places for walking that are also less stressful and more comfortable. "The findings reveal that these types of investments can have positive outcomes in places outside of downtown and inner Portland, particularly when coupled with other planning and infrastructure investments, but that we do need to address the negative effects of high speed, multi-lane arterials," Dill said.

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Winnipeg Manitoba City Rating Page | PeopleForBikes 2022 City Ratings
by Terry Zdan 30 Jun '22

30 Jun '22

https://cityratings.peopleforbikes.org/cities/winnipeg-mb

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Winnipeg cycling safety assesment: F
by Terry Zdan 30 Jun '22

30 Jun '22

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/winnipeg-bike-cycling-safety-1.6505…

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Re: [At-network] Winnipeg Road Safety Strategic Action Plan – June 2022 Project Update
by Beth McKechnie 29 Jun '22

29 Jun '22

On Wed., Jun. 29, 2022, 9:22 a.m. Kurylko, Robert, <Bob.Kurylko(a)stantec.com> wrote: A few things I think are missing from this strategy document. > > > > Number one is the lack of recognition that roundabouts are a proven > solution for reducing collision severity. Concern about pedestrian > accommodation at roundabouts is not substantiated by the evidence that I > have seen and is mitigatable if it exists. > > Number two is the lack of recognition that highway design philosophy – > design speed higher than posted speed – is a contributor to encouraging > higher speeds on arterials and highways > > > Number three is lack of mention that signal timing contributes to > speeding. If timing is set to allow free flow at a speed slightly lower > than the posted speed, traffic flow slows down. It has been done. > > > Number four is no mention, that I saw, about using speed reader boards – > signs that tell you your speed. This is very effective tool used in various > communities. You want drivers to be looking at the road environment. These > signs provide a friendly reminder about your speed. > > > Number five is no mention that design standards for roads, in general, > promote moving vehicles as fast as possible. Good for rural highways, not > so much for urban conditions where other modes are present and being > promoted. > > > > Safety should begin at the engineering level, and we need documents like > this to recognize that the fundamentals of road design need to reflect the > goals of meeting the needs of all users with priority to the most > vulnerable. If the intent of the road is to move a lot of vehicles, and we > do need those, then other modes need to be accommodated in the proper way. > Mixing modes is tricky and leaves vulnerable users at risk. > > > > The document talks about the success of various countries in reducing > collision severity. There is little if any mention of what contributing > factors drove those reductions, they are well documented and we should be > follow their leads. > > *Robert (Bob) Kurylko, P. Eng, * > > Senior Transportation Engineer > Sr. Associate > Stantec > 500–311 Portage Avenue, Winnipeg MB R3B 2B9 > Cell: 204 918 2042 > robert.kurylko(a)stantec.com > > > > *From:* Terry Zdan > *Sent:* Tuesday, June 28, 2022 9:43 AM > *To:* AT network <AT-Network(a)lists.umanitoba.ca> > *Subject:* Winnipeg Road Safety Strategic Action Plan – June 2022 Project > Update > > > > > > ---------- Forwarded message --------- > From: *City of Winnipeg* <notifications(a)engagementhq.com> > Date: Tue., Jun. 28, 2022, 9:22 a.m. > Subject: Winnipeg Road Safety Strategic Action Plan – June 2022 Project > Update > To: <tjzdan50(a)gmail.com> > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > Good morning/afternoon, > > You are receiving this email because you requested updates on the Winnipeg > Road Safety Strategic Action Plan. > > The Phase 3 public engagement report > <https://can01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Femails.en…> > , summary > <https://can01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Femails.en…>, > and appendices > <https://can01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Femails.en…> are > now available and provide an overview of the feedback collected for the > project. > > The Winnipeg Road Safety Strategic Action Plan > <https://can01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Femails.en…> will > be considered by the Standing Policy Committee on Infrastructure and > Public Works > <https://can01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Femails.en…> on > July 5, 2022. If you would like to appear as a delegation > <https://can01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Femails.en…>, > please contact the City Clerk's Department > <https://can01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Femails.en…> > by noon on July 4, 2022. > > For more information, visit winnipeg.ca/roadsafetyplan > <https://can01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Femails.en…> > . > > Kind regards, > > > > The Project Team > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > You're receiving this email because you are a registered participant on > Engage Winnipeg. > Powered by EngagementHQ > <https://can01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Femails.en…> > Unsubscribe > <https://can01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Femails.en…> > > > > > > > > > >

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WFP: City eyes expanding sidewalk snow clearing (Jun29'22)
by Beth McKechnie 29 Jun '22

29 Jun '22

City eyes expanding sidewalk snow clearing https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/city-eyes-expanding-sidewalk-snow-f… WINNIPEG’S sidewalks could potentially be freed of ice and snow more quickly in future winters — but those more passable routes would come at a price. A proposed update to the city’s snow clearing and ice control policy calls for council to approve $3 million to buy 15 more sidewalk-clearing machines, while also contracting out an additional 500 kilometres of sidewalk plowing. Those combined changes could reduce the plowing timeline for residential sidewalks by up to 50 per cent, or from five to 2.5 days, said Michael Cantor, City of Winnipeg manager of streets maintenance. “This amount of equipment will provide a much better level of service than we have been able to provide so far and (allow us) to meet the policy that we have. We have a very good policy but we need the right resources to meet it.” The changes are proposed just after the “worst-case scenario” winter of 2021-22 thwarted efforts to efficiently clear sidewalks, said Cantor. A city report notes repeated snowstorms wreaked havoc on walking paths. Municipal policy requires sidewalks adjacent to major routes and collector streets be cleared within 36 hours after an “average” storm ends, with residential street sidewalks cleared within five working days after plowing starts. Instead, it took an average of 98 hours to clear main route sidewalks last winter, 156 hours for those on collector streets and 218 hours for residential routes. “According to 2021-22 data, none of the priority level sidewalks or pathways were completed according to the standard set out by the policy,” the report notes. Many Winnipeggers who rely on sidewalks for daily travel complained the routes were largely impassable for long periods, demanding the city make a greater investment to ensure active transportation options are available year-round. Cantor said the new system, if approved by council, would provide the resources needed to meet clearing standards for the highest priority sidewalks and clear residential ones “much faster.” “I think both the clearing and the ice control on the sidewalks will significantly improve,” he said. The city currently owns 31 sidewalk snow-clearing machines and can rent additional ones. While the city currently removes snow from 2,500 km of sidewalks and hires contractors to clean up another 500 km, the changes would also shift a further 500 km to private crews. The new policy would also crack down on contractors who don’t complete snow clearing on time. Fines that currently kick in for uncompleted work 36 hours after an operation starts could be applied within 12 hours of a scheduled operation instead. The city is also calling to revamp the annual snow route parking ban, which currently bars key routes between 2 a.m. and 7 a.m. from Dec. 1 to Feb. 28. Under the new rules, the city could begin or end the ban at any point between Nov. 1 and April 30. The ban’s name would also change, with “winter route” replacing “snow route” to highlight the fact it can be imposed to salt and sand streets, not just for plowing. Coun. Matt Allard, who has long called for ways to make sidewalk travel less treacherous in the winter, welcomed the proposed changes. “I’m pleased to see it move forward. I hope that’ll be enough to meet our snow and ice control policies to have that level of service that Winnipeggers expect,” said Allard. While the city expects to cover the $3-million tab for sidewalk clearing equipment through debt, the councillor said the investment is warranted. “If we want to be able to walk on the sidewalks, I think we need to spend the money required to do that (in the winter). We want to encourage people to use all modes (of transportation)… This is going to be a citywide increased level of service, so I think the value for money is definitely there,” said Allard. The report notes new sidewalk-clearing machines may not be available next winter, since such equipment can take 12 months to obtain, thanks to COVID-19 supply chain delays. Cantor said the city expects to contract out about 200 km of sidewalks this year, with the rest through new contracts the following year. Council is expected to hold a final vote on the proposed changes next month. joyanne.pursaga(a)freepress.mb.ca Twitter: @joyanne_pursaga

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WFP: Council gears up for road safety (Jun29'22)
by Beth McKechnie 29 Jun '22

29 Jun '22

Politicians to consider $22M in upgrades Council gears up for road safety https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/council-gears-up-for-road-safety-st… THE City of Winnipeg could spend $22 million over five years in an effort to reduce serious injuries and deaths caused by traffic collisions. However, some fear the city’s first road safety strategic action plan won’t spark changes soon enough. Coun. Matt Allard, chairman of council’s public works committee, said he’s disappointed by a lack of immediate steps to make the streets safer for all pedestrians, cyclists and drivers. “I think we can do more. We should fast track the parts of roads (funding) that involve safety,” Allard said Tuesday. The action plan does call for council to begin funding the changes in 2023, which a city staff report deems a key priority. “The need for such an action plan is clear: between 2012 and 2018, 98 people were killed and 1,113 suffered major injuries as a result of collisions on Winnipeg streets,” David Patman, manager of transportation planning, writes in the report. The new plan would set a target to reduce the number of fatal and serious injury collisions by 20 per cent over the next five years. To achieve that, the strategy proposes the city create a road safety committee, a road safety branch and three new full-time safety-focused staff positions. Additional recommendations call for the city to review the policy for intersection warning lights, roundabouts and left-turn signals; evaluate crosswalk safety; install pedestrian refuge islands (where strategic curbs reduce exposure to vehicle traffic); add pedestrian-led intervals (which give foot traffic a head start to walk before a green light allows vehicle traffic in the same direction); upgrade cycling infrastructure; support school biking-education programs; and review the safety of multi-use path crossings for cyclists. The city should also add more 30 km/hr speed limits at neighbourhood greenways (which are meant to safely serve all forms of traffic), review overall speed limits, add more traffic-calming measures (such as roundabouts) and create public education on road safety, the plan suggests. Allard argues more immediate action is needed. The city recently identified about $7.5 million of warranted engineering enhancements that could improve safety, which have yet to be funded, he noted. He would like the municipal government to find the money to commit to that work now, which could improve pedestrian signals, add traffic lights and upgrade crosswalk lights, rather than waiting to select projects next year. “There are things that we know we can do now… I would have wanted to see immediate reaction,” said Allard. The councillor said he believes the cost of the strategic plan is reasonable but thinks the goal to reduce fatalities and injuries by 20 per cent over five years isn’t aggressive enough. “The public service says it’s important to set targets… but the idea that (a portion of) people are still going to die and get injured is (concerning).” A request to interview Patman was not granted Tuesday. In an email, city spokesman Ken Allen said the five-year target is both significant and realistic. “The goal was set to be ambitious, but achievable, and to set us on a path toward achieving the long-term vision of (a) transportation system that allows people of all ages and abilities to safely move around without experiencing death or serious injury,” wrote Allen. While the action plan funding is sought from next year’s budget, Allen said other road safety investments are taking place in 2022. “The city is continuously working to improve road safety. Several ongoing road safety improvements are funded through existing programs,” he said. The city paid a consultant $2.5 million to develop the road safety action plan, which was funded through federal gas grants. Council is scheduled to cast the final vote on the plan next month. joyanne.pursaga(a)freepress.mb.ca Twitter: @joyanne_pursaga Most dangerous intersections AS part of its traffic safety research, the City of Winnipeg has also ranked excess collision sites (2015-19), as compared with other locations with similar characteristics and traffic volumes: ● 1 — Kenaston and McGillivray boulevards ● 2 — Kenaston Boulevard and Sterling Lyon Parkway ● 3 — Archibald and Marion streets ● 4 — Dakota Street and Dunkirk Drive ● 5 — Academy Road and Stafford Street ● 6 — Lagimodiere Boulevard and Regent Avenue ● 7 — Pembina Highway and Bison Drive ● 8 — Bishop Grandin Boulevard and St. Anne’s Road ● 9 — McPhillips Street and Leila Avenue ● 10 — Lagimodiere Boulevard and Reenders Drive

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Ebikes for business...in London ON
by Terry Zdan 28 Jun '22

28 Jun '22

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/london/this-london-ont-tech-firm-is-making-e…

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Biz for Climate in Winnipeg
by Charles Feaver 28 Jun '22

28 Jun '22

Business community gathers at climate concern rally point What do a Prairie farm, a marketing firm and an electronic payment company have in common? Theyve all signed a pledge urging government to prioritize climate action. More than 130 businesses have banded together through the non-profit BizforClimate. "This is about mobilizing business leaders and business owners to speak up," said BizforClimate president Derek Earl. "We want to encourage a bolder, faster response in line with the climate science." Earl was previously vice-president of World Trade Centre Winnipeg. There, hed meet leaders looking to decarbonize their companies. Derek Earl and a group founded BizforClimate in August 2020. "The missing piece was, Are businesses speaking up about climate? Are they stepping forward?" Earl said. "We need to move the needle." Earl found a gap: he said he wouldnt see business owners at climate conventions and meetings he attended. So, he and a group founded BizforClimate in August 2020. The board is comprised of well-connected members: there are presidents and chief executive officers from a range of business sectors on the seven-person team. They began encouraging contacts to sign BizforClimates pledge. Companies who do so show they want politicians to prioritize limiting global warming to 1.5 C through emissions reductions. "We want to build a long and impressive list and share that story with policy makers," Earl said. Companies signing align with BizforClimates messages: climate change is an urgent problem, climate action is the best path to economic prosperity, and public policy is needed to achieve climate solutions. Earl hopes signatories will take steps within their own networks to decarbonize or otherwise take climate action. However, BizforClimate doesnt have the capacity to follow up, nor would they want to micro-manage, Earl said. As of June 7, 133 businesses had signed. Winnipeg-based Highland Electric did so in May. "When I started Highland Electric (in 2015), I just decided that immediately we were going to do something differently," said CEO Ben Bruce. Hed had enough of working on construction sites and seeing environmentally harmful practices. "A lot of job sites werent even recycling their cardboard. Youd notice a lot of garbage that blows away in the wind." Bruce, 38, said he fishes and hunts; he wants to ensure his child can experience the same outdoors he did as she grows up. His staff use reusable notepads, called Rocketbooks, to prevent paper waste. Highland Electric plants trees on the job, specializes in electric vehicle chargers and uses recyclable materials. "I think its more just a choice that companies have to make," Bruce said. "You can either choose to use a company that packages things in plastic or you can choose not to." Bruce said he hopes signing the pledge will signal to companies like his that being environmentally friendly is possible. "You actually save costs," Bruce said, noting theres generally a larger payment up front before the savings kick in. (For example, he had to pay more for a Rocketbook than a typical notepad, but now doesnt have to restock.) Maddie Thompson signed the pledge on behalf of Spark Media in May. "Ive been increasingly aware of (climate change) as theres more events that are happening, more forest fires, that sort of situation," she said. "Before, it seemed like such a future thing." Thompson shared the pledge on LinkedIn shes hoping it spreads awareness. "Everything is going to get worse," she said. "Whats been on my mind lately, specifically, is food security. I think thats going to be a coming issue." Small things, such as businesses switching to compostable cups at meetings, do matter, Thompson said. "Its a sign of the times that companies of all sizes, all over the world, are realizing that there are really good reasons for them to change their ways," said Danny Blair, co-director of the Prairie Climate Centre at the University of Winnipeg. Many will alter practices if they face pressure from customers, Blair noted. "The public is much more sensitive to climate change, theyre much more concerned about climate change, and they will more so, over time, insist that the companies they do business with are themselves working hard to be carbon neutral." Forty-three per cent of Canadians are willing to pay more for sustainable products, according to the third Canadian edition of the EY Future Consumer Index, released in December 2020. Some businesses want to reduce emissions upon learning about climate change, Blair said. Theres no specific date humanity has to reach net-zero by, he added. Instead, emissions reductions need to happen "rapidly." "Every year that we go along and continue business as usual limits our ability to constrain climate change." "In order for us to be successful in addressing climate change, we need everybody involved," agreed Curt Hull, project director of Climate Change Connection. Hull and his team have spent 2 1/2 years researching a path to reducing emissions in Manitoba. Their final report is called: Road to Resilience. Manitoba should electrify heating and transportation, Hull said, proposing "a (Second World War) level of effort, where we go neighbourhood by neighbourhood, improving the efficiency of homes and connecting those homes to district geothermal." Various business sectors, including construction, will be needed, Hull said. "Every step we take to move away from fossil fuels and towards electricity keeps more of that revenue in the province." Manitobans spent roughly $3.7 billion on fossil fuels last year, according to a provincial spokesperson. The figure is based on gas prices of $1.25 per litre. Manitobans spent more than $3.3 billion on diesel and gasoline for transport, and around $400 million on natural gas, the spokesperson wrote in an email. BizforClimate is not government funded, Earl said. Some businesses who sign the pledge choose to donate money, though its not required. The board is volunteer-run. Meetings with government and opposition members have begun, he said. gabrielle.piche(a)freepress.mb.ca Gabrielle Piché Gabrielle Piché Reporter

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