David Chernushenko urges city of Ottawa to boost emissions targets, match province

The chair of Ottawa's environment committee wants the city to align its targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions with the more aggressiveones set by the Ontario government.

Coun. David Chernushenko would also like to see the committee he chairs renamed the "environment and climate protection committee" to better reflect his personal aim of keeping global temperatures steady.

Those proposals are laid out in a draft motion Chernushenkoplans to present at thecommittee's next meeting, inFebruary 2016. By then the outcome of thehigh-profile UN climate talks taking place in Paristhat beginNov. 30will be known.

Chernushenko wants to see world leaders set bold targets there.

"That's the signal thateverybody else needs,that at the very highest levelof government they're serious and we need to do our part to put into practices the commitments that they're making," he said.

'Baby steps'

The city of Ottawa updated its air quality and climate change management plan in the spring of 2014, but Chernushenko called the targets set out in the document"baby steps."

His draft motion suggeststhe city aim to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 80 per cent below 1990 levels by 2050, as Ontario has set out to acheive. The motionwill need to be debated and approved first by the committee, then by city council.

Earlier this week, the Association of Municipalities of Ontario and theUnion of Quebec Municipalitiessigned an agreement to work together on climate change, and to promote the role cities can play in crafting environmentally progressive policieson transit, stormwater systems and other infrastructure.