Kelowna city council battles over climate crisis declaration

A resolution asking Kelowna city council to declare a climate crisis sparked a fractious debate today, Oct. 16, and triggered angry outbursts from the public in attendance.

“You are a disgrace, every last one of you,” a man in the gallery yelled after the majority of councillors voted to pass the motion made by councillor Gord Lovegrove.

“You're all fired,” a woman called out.

Coun. Lovegrove talked for close to 10 minutes about the importance of recognizing the impact of climate change and the need to do more to fight it.

Councillor Mohini Singh fully supported that message in seconding the motion but virtually all the other councillors questioned whether there was any point in passing such a motion, especially after Mayor Tom Dyas read out a long list of actions that city is already taking.

That included things like developing an urban tree canopy, creating a pilot energy concierge program, supporting zero emission cars and charging facilities and replacing the Parkinson Recreation Centre – the largest greenhouse gas emitter among city-owned buildings with a zero emission structure – just to name a few.

“What actions have you recommended or what other items brought forward that will be accomplished by declaring this crisis?” Dyas asked.

Coun. Lovegrove later said he deliberately didn't include such items and would rather leave that to the expertise of city staff.

READ MORE: Kelowna city council urged to declare a climate crisis

“It seems like this is a PR exercise to me,” councillor Rick Webber said. “I have a hard time seeing anybody changing anybody’s mind with it. I’ve thought about this over the last few days quite a lot and I don’t see the point of it to be honest.”

While councillor Ron Cannan said everyone should try to make the world a better place, he went so far as to suggest climate change was not really a problem.

“If you do some research, the Earth is actually cooler than it was 700 years ago by about two degrees on average, so it isn’t true to say it’s warming,” he said. “While humans impacting climate change is real, a climate emergency is not. A world where far more people die of cold than of heat is slowly becoming warmer.”

Coun. Cannan pointed out that there are other crises that need to be addressed like housing affordability, homelessness and a toxic illegal drug supply.

“More bureaucracy and platitudes doesn’t work in my mind,” he said, asking for the item to be deferred until there can be pubic consultation.

That triggered applause from the audience in council chambers but Coun. Cannan's motion was deferred with a 5-4 vote.

In the end, Lovegrove’s motion that the City of Kelowna declare a climate crisis passed.

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