- by John Butler
In my humble opinion, Owen Sound Council gave a lesson in cowardice.
At its meeting of February 10, the Owen Sound Municipal Council reversed its earlier decision to hire a Climate Mitigation and Adaptation Coordinator – someone who could have helped the city to embed climate action in its strategic and official plans. By a five to four vote (with Mayor Ian Boddy casting the deciding vote), Council passed a motion put forward by Councillor Marion Koepke to delay implementing this position until the Council better understands this permanent position and investigates sharing the employee with another municipality – or finds an alternative to hiring someone for the position.
On February 18 Mayor Boddy, speaking on a CFOS Open Line program, defended the decision using several exotic species of logic that best belong in a rhetorical zoo. Confusing sobriety with a coma, Boddy told CFOS, “And in sober second thought we looked at it and went ‘well, what else is going on?’”
Mayor Boddy says the Council backed down because of “loud and clear” push-back from residents – who don't seem to have been concerned enough to form a delegation to council. The only “loud and clear” heard by the public so far has come from the voices of citizens concerned enough about climate change to make presentations to Council in public sessions. Yet having raised the spectre of unnamed “loud and clear” voices in the CFOS interview, Boddy discounts community voices altogether by saying “We know what's going on to a lot more depth than the public does” and “If we only do what everyone tells us to do, that's not leadership". It sounds like only one kind of voice matters to Boddy – voices that say what he wants to hear.
Boddy attempts to further dilute an organized public voice from the community by saying:
“There are so many people in that group that were from West Grey, that were from Chatsworth, that were from outside of Owen Sound coming in and demanding that Owen Sound must do something and you know, they're not necessarily taxpayers so should we be listening to people outside the community?”
The last time your Dear Editor heard this argument made with such ignorant clarity was during the Civil Rights era, when local Southern officials dismissed citizen protests on the grounds that the protests were fomented by “outside agitators”. Declaration: I am an “outsider” from Grey Highlands who attended two Owen Sound Council meetings in support of delegations concerned about climate change. As an outsider I was very much in the minority (keep in mind that some outsiders work and shop in Owen Sound, and pay a disproportionate part of the county portion of their municipal taxes to support services and jobs there).
The Owen Sound Council has responded positively to none of these public “loud and clear” voices that made presentations to Council:
Council chose not to declare a climate emergency or crisis, even though as a coastal and riverside city it is more vulnerable to anticipated extreme weather events than thousands of other municipalities across the world that did see fit to prudently make such declarations.
Council decided not to create a climate advisory group, saying that it would be hiring a Climate Mitigation and Adaptation Coordinator who would provide advice, so an advisory group would be unnecessary.
Consider, dear reader, the Orwellian double-speak of Owen Sound’s current position:
“We don’t need a climate advisory committee because we will have a Climate Coordinator to advise us”
“But we’re not going to hire a Climate Coordinator”.
Owen Sounders concerned about climate change have shown great flexibility. It was not a group of citizens that dreamed up the idea of a hired Climate Mitigation and Adaptation Coordinator. That idea came from the City Manager. But since their own suggestions had been rejected by Council, concerned citizens embraced the one initiative the City had chosen – the hiring of a Coordinator. This led to a bizarre spectacle on February 10: a delegation of concerned citizens defending (through questions to Council) an initiative that wasn’t their idea in the first place, while Council tore down that same initiative that was their idea in the first place.
But there was a bright side to the Council meeting. Four Council members out of nine voted against the motion to delay. Some of them spoke passionately and with logic against the delay. I plan to learn more about these far-visioned Owen Sound elected officials.
Most members of Owen Sound Council don’t want to hear the voices of their climate-concerned citizens, but there is no reason why those voices should be muted – and Owen Sounders have at least two upcoming opportunities for “loud and clear” voices to be heard yet again (and perhaps heeded):
As part of its Official Plan Update, the city has created a short on-line survey to provide input on Owen Sound's growth and development vision for the future. The survey closes on March 31 and can be accessed here. It would help if you, every friend, neighbor and lover you've ever had, and every relative, completed the questionnaire from the perspective of climate and environmental concern. If you have comments you want made public - sent a letter to the editor - of the Owen Sound Hub or the Sun Times.
A Community Engagement Session for the Owen Sound 20-year Official Plan Review will be held on March 2 at 4:30 pm at the Harry Lumley Bayshore Community Centre, 1900 3rd Avenue East in Owen Sound. The more climatoids there, the better.
