Comparison of Environmental Policy in Three Major Canadian Cities
Over the last two decades, the world has witnessed unprecedented growth in urban areas. This continued growth and widespread cities present a number of concerns for the future sustainability of urban centres due to the rise are social and economic problems as well as the loss of biodiversity in their borders. More than half of the world’s population lives in urban centers, and the clustering of people presents challenges to the governing authorities and city planners. In Canada, 80 percent of the population lives in urban areas. Urban practitioners in Canada have often developed innovative methods and policies to deal with the problems resulting from the clustering population. Canadian cities are famous for their quality of life, which is partly a result of national urban policy and municipal governance. While Canadian cities like Toronto, Vancouver, and Hamilton are economic powerhouses, overpopulation in these cities poses severe environmental issues. This paper provides an in-depth analysis of the environmental challenges in three major cities of Canada. It elaborates on the challenges of environmental policies in the cities of Toronto, Vancouver, and Hamilton. Pollution of waterways, soil, and air has become a primary concern of the urban environmental policymaking.
Environmental policies in Vancouver, Toronto, and Hamilton
The main environmental pollution issues in Canada are air and water pollution. However, the nature of these challenges differs from city to city depending on the leadership, surrounding natural resources, and the dominant economic activities in the city. The territorial government has constitutional authority over municipalities. Provincial and territorial governments can pass legislation that affects safety standards and environmental policies in their regions. Also, the federal government of Canada has jurisdiction over certain areas that apply to environmental issues. The federal government sets standards on fuel emissions, national air, and water quality objectives, protecting natural resources and regulation of key transport systems. Therefore, the federal laws affect in a major way the conduct of cities and communities. The private sector is also a crucial player in environmental policies and determines the ease of implementation. These parties jointly come up with policies to address environmental issues in different cities. The difference in the challenges faced by these cities implementing their sustainability policies emanates from the provisions in the Municipal acts of the city’s province.
Vancouver
Vancouver is the third-largest city and the largest metropolitan area in western Canada. Vancouver metropolitan area has more than 2.5 million people. Being a coastal area, the city is vulnerable to rising sea levels due to global warming. Vancouver has often faced threats of destructive storms as well as flooding as global temperatures increase in the arctic. Also, air pollution, which results in global warming, affects the stability of permafrost, and such trends threaten the city infrastructure. The city, therefore, has to develop environmental policies that support the national agenda and also protect its people. Vancouver has the initiative to become the greenest city to address its environmental challenges. The initiative is set to affects how residents move around the city and what they buy. Like most Canadian cities, the major environmental challenge is air pollution. The city of Vancouver has been working on green planning and reduction in community emission of greenhouse gases per capita.
The city of Vancouver is adopting modern climate-friendly approaches to building and transport system. However, alternatives to fossil fuels in the transport sector are still a problem. The use of nuclear power is not widespread in most urban areas across Canada. The efforts to reduce urban areas is a problem even though the city is considered one of the greenest cities in the world. The majority of the people in the city still depend on fossil fuels for transportation. Also, there are very few green jobs in the city. Therefore, the change towards green energy will cause far-reaching problems like unemployment. Vancouver has been at the forefront of eco-friendly policies through its green planning. Over the last decade, the city has demonstrated to the world that cities can reduce the amount of carbon emission and remain competitive and safe in the global community. The idea that people have to choose between their economy and the environment when adopting green energy.
In attempts to become the greenest city in the world, environmental policy initiatives have become a municipal priority. However, the process of urban greening requires the efforts of both citizens and politicians. Individuals’ commitment towards greenhouse gas reduction is key in Vancouver green planning. The city’s long term project is to have zero waste by 2040 and also to develop a climate adaptation strategy that will ensure Vancouver remains resilient to climate change. The city is also adopting a neighborhood energy strategy which is aimed at providing new energy systems in the metropolitan area. Since 2009, the city municipal has been working with other stakeholders to convert the large scale steam to renewable energy. Vancouver has been working on alternative greener energy sources like to reduce the percentage of electricity generated from oil and coal. Moreover, construction in the city has adopted a green buildings policy. According to the city plans and targets, all buildings constructed from 2020 should be carbon neutral to reduce the rate of greenhouse gas emissions.
However, Vancouver’s environmental policies face certain challenges. Ideally, the success of a green energy initiative requires three important factors to succeed: proper regulation, adequate financing, and capacity building as well as the cooperation from the locals. In Vancouver, the limits placed by territorial boundaries affect the ability of the city to implement these policies effectively. The effects of pollutants from other areas with less strict policies outside the Vancouver metropolitan area degrades the efforts within this region. The city has developed legislation that raises requirements on energy usage as compared to other surrounding cities. The inability to control the actions in other areas poses challenges to the success of the green policies within Vancouver. The transition to green and renewable energy requires a lot of resources and financing. Nearly 80% of the urban population uses fuel for their electricity, and the dramatic transition will require incentives and loans to develop the necessary capacity. Also, Vancouver city requires a rapidly growing green building sector to achieve its target in 2040. The technology and building science necessary for the green city project have not been fully integrated into the system because it is expensive for ordinary people.
Toronto
Introduction
Toronto is the largest city in Canada and has a population of about 6.2 million people. It is the fourth largest city in North America. The city of Toronto is found within the Ontario province of Canada. The Ontario municipal act of 2001 guides the relationship between the city municipal and the province. The high population in the city implies high energy consumption. Also, being the capital city of Canada, various industrial activities in the city increase pollution. Toronto is the most congested city in Canada and faces problems with traffic congestion. The majority of people still depend on fossil fuels for their transport, which makes air pollution a rampant problem in the city. The city has instituted various climate mitigation measures to control the emission of greenhouse gases. Water pollution in the city also affects nearby water bodies. Sewage and harmful emission have resulted in contaminants like mercury and lead in Lake Ontario. The federal government and city municipal have been working on improving the quality of air around the city. The development of the Ontario nuclear power plants and the closure of the coal-fired power plants have reduced the amount of pollutants. One of the major challenges facing environmental policy in the Toronto Urban area is the ever-growing population, which increases the demand for energy as well as industrial activities.
The city of Toronto has adopted the TransformTo, which seeks to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and improve the quality of water and air in the region. According to statistics, more than 52% of the Greenhouse gases in Toronto come from the buildings and domestic use of natural gas. Also, out of the 38% emissions generated by the transport sector, 80% of this value is produced by personal cares. One challenge in developing environmental policies to reduce this emission is the lack of enough resources. The city has been working on sensitizing people to use public transport as well as the introduction of electric cars. However, electric cars are too expensive for ordinary citizens. The city has laid a foundation for green buildings to improve energy efficiency and conversation in various buildings in the city. The green housing project has brought together many city players together. Major agencies and commissions have pulled resources together to see the project through. The energy-efficient real estate program is a major pillar of the broader initiative by the city to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
The primary challenges to environmental policies in urban centers are how to bridge the gap between what we are willing to give and the benefits that human beings receive from the ecosystem. This problem can be overcome by addressing funding and sustainability challenges. The clusters and geographic concentrations of interconnected companies and institutions in Toronto make the environmental policies different from other cities. Federal laws also affect the environmental policies adopted in various cities. Federal conservatives have often opposed the imposition of the carbon tax, which is meant to discourage the consumption of fossil fuels. The city of Toronto targets a reduction of greenhouse gases by 25% from 1990 to the end of 2020. Unlike the other two municipalities, the Ontario act grants Toronto a lot of freedom to set rules that govern itself known as the “Home rule.” Toronto has expanded taxation powers, which allows the mayor to control the consumption of certain products that are not eco-friendly. The city of Toronto act 2006 outline the various powers conferred to the municipality as an accountable level of government.
Hamilton
Hamilton is a port city in the Ontario province in Canada. The city is located in the west end of Lake Ontario, with a population of about 800,000. Hamilton is famous for its industrial activities, which rendered it an important manufacturing center in Canada. However, in the past decade, Hamilton has maintained a status quo and remained a dirty city with declining manufacturing. The city of Hamilton faces various challenges in terms of sustainable development. Like many Canadian cities, Hamilton is at a crucial point in revitalizing its economy and ecosystem, and understanding these challenges is crucial for urban planning. One of the main challenges facing environmental policy in the city is the lack of centralization of sustainability initiatives. The various departments of the city pursuing policies should exhibit specific engagement strategies. Another challenge faced facing the city’s eco-friendly policies is the ability to attract business and build up a strong industrial base using green energy. The adoption of green technology requires a lot of funding, which most companies are not willing to the layout. Therefore, the city struggles to attract the right investors who can revive the manufacturing capabilities of the companies while protecting the ecosystem.
Another problem is the development of the then necessary infrastructure. In the transport sector, various changes are necessary for sustainability. However, the development of cycling infrastructure and the adoption of comprehensive bike-sharing services has not been heavily implemented in the city. The new urbanism encompasses a dramatic change in the development in the ways of life, mode of transport, and choices of things we buy regularly. The Ontario environmental assessment Act requires the municipalities to abide by the sustainability requirements when making major constructions like water, roads, and wastewater projects. Municipalities only have the authority to make policy according to the federal or territorial provisions. In British Columbia, the provincial legislations require that any substantial environmental by-law can only be passed with the approval of the provincial minister of the environment. The rigidity in the zoning by-laws affects the adoption of greener policies like electric bus charging stations, cogeneration, and small scale electric power development.
Reason for the variations in the environmental policies
Some of the leading causes of challenges in municipal environmental policies include the federal restrictions, availability of resources, and location of the city. Some municipal acts allow the city administrators to make by-laws that respect the safety, health, and general well-being of their constituents. The constitution can override the local zoning and local by-laws. Also, cities with a lot of resources have minimal challenges in adopting environmental policies. The municipal development plan may be more involved than mere zoning of districts, but the provincial and federal legislation are superiors that any municipal by-law.
Implications on the legal authority on the ability of the city to handle emergency activities.
Questions have always been raised on the ability of the municipality to act on the pressing matter in their regions of jurisdiction. With the growing changing climate, numerous municipal resources are used in adaptation and mitigation measures. Due to a lack of stronger constitutional authority, the effectiveness of the environmental policies cannot extend beyond certain limits and places. During pressing circumstances like the Covid-19 pandemic, municipalities are expected to enact policies to protect their people and resources. However, since the federal government can override them, the ability of the cities to adopt specific measures within their jurisdictions is highly disregarded. For example, the councilors from the Vancouver municipality recommended to the territorial authorities the need for more stringent measures to reduce vaping in schools. The limits on legal jurisdiction and the effectiveness of policies result in the inability to act in case vaping becomes a serious problem in the city. In most cases, the municipal can only recommend to the upper tiers of government to adopt specific measures because the provincial ministries must offer their consent of such legislations.
The ability of a city to effectively address threats like pollution and disease outbreaks, there should be some degree of independence. From the above discussion, it has been established that one of the major challenges facing the environmental policy in the three cities ins proper legislation. The municipal acts differ according to the location of the city. For example, in British Columbia, all health-related legislation should be run through the provincial minister of health. Municipalities their resources to tackle the problems of climate change and yet they can make some of the most crucial decisions in running their cities. All laws become inoperative to the extent to which they contradict federal law.