Open letter to Mayor Bev Buckway and all Whitehorse council:
It has now been more than a month since reminding mayor and council regarding our concerns with the city not having a concrete energy savings plan to lower such costs as evidenced in our yearly increased taxation and utility fees.
And not a peep of response or action.
In the meantime, you have been busy criticizing the federal government in the media for its lack of action on climate change.
You have even gone as far as passing a motion, which I assume was sent to Parliament.
One part of this motion states: ” Whereas the city of Whitehorse has already taken many concrete steps to reduce its carbon footprint through a variety of programs ranging from compost collection to the development and implementation of a sustainability planÉ.”
Not to criticize these significant programs, but it remains very important to note that implementing most of the compost collection plan, including the new cart system, was paid for by monies provided by the federal government.
As well, the sustainability plan has resulted in no concrete initiatives for the city to conserve energy in its own buildings, functions nor machinery.
Here’s a motion for you to consider: “Until the city of Whitehorse implements a concrete energy savings plan incorporating a measurement program, goals and a plan of action to achieve these goals and thus, by osmosis, achieve less carbon emissions, we will not criticize others for neglecting their carbon footprint.”
As a matter of fact, looking up city council policies on the web shows absolutely nothing on environmental stewardship or energy savings.
Not only does this lack of policy and action affect the bottom line in curtailing the yearly abundance of budget increases, but implies that there may be a bit of hypocrisy in our ivory towers.
Roger Rondeau, president, Utilities Consumers’ Group
Whitehorse