A governmental Environmental Protection Task Force will seek to give advice to Town council about whether or not Cochrane should stay in an international network of local municipalities dedicated to sustainable urban development, or if it should leave the agreement altogether.
The Natural Environment Protection Task Force, a subcommittee of Town council, which gathers sparingly throughout the year, met on July 15 to hear a Notice of Motion that stems from a late June council item that is seeking to pull the Town out of the International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives (ICLEI) and the Partners for Climate Protection Program (PCP).
The ICLEI Local Governments for Sustainability network is made up of local municipalities from over 2,500 towns and cities in over 125 countries around the world. According to its website, the ICLEI works to “influence sustainability policy and drive local action for zero emission, nature-based, equitable, resilient and circular development.”
Councillor Patrick Wilson, in a Notice of Motion he wrote for council in late June, said that he believed the Town should pull out of the international program and instead prioritize local decision-making that better serves the immediate needs of Cochrane residents.
“I suggest that we prioritize local decision making over international mandates and the reallocation of resources towards initiatives that better serve the immediate needs of Cochrane residents,” Wilson wrote in his Notice of Motion.
The motion states that the Town should cease participation in ICLEI programs or “similar externally-driven initiatives,” unless explicitly mandated by the Town council, and after full disclosure of their funding sources, objectives, and implications.
The motion also states that Council should direct administration to develop and implement clear guidelines restricting participation in externally influenced initiatives to ensure transparent reporting on all collaborations with external entities, especially through grant funding initiatives. The motion directs Council to affirm its commitment to democratic transparency, autonomy, and “prioritizing local interests over multinational corporate or external agendas.”
In the Notice of Motion, Town administration added that the Town is not actively pursuing projects through either program, but Wilson’s motion did state that the Town has previously undertaken initiatives through the PCP, like the electric bus implementation and electric charging stations.
Wilson said he was not even aware the Town were partners in either program until a presentation from the citizen group ‘Dog with a Bone Society’ brought it to his attention in February of this year.
The Town of Cochrane’s Natural Environment Protection Task Force was originally convened to act as an advisory body to Town council and administration, with the goal of identifying and prioritizing natural areas that “should be preserved or restored to protect long-term ecological health, build community resilience, and protect the visual beauty of the community.”
Administration officials plan on summarizing the Task Force's position on the Notice of Motion before a council meeting in September.
