Electric vehicle rebate among staff proposals to speed up Toronto’s target to become a carbon neutral city
In 2011, former Toronto Mayor David Crombie promised his city’s population would be carbon neutral by the time the current millennium ends.
With files from Jennifer Pagliaro and Michelle Tan
Darrell Moomau was asked to run for mayor in 2013.
“I am doing what I can to make sure our infrastructure is built that protects against climate change, but I am also doing what I can to make sure the city is sustainable,” he said at the time.
In May 2016, at the request of the Toronto Region Board of Trade, Moomau announced a public campaign for the city to become a carbon neutral municipality by the end of the current millennium.
At the time, he said:
The last thing the City of Toronto needs is to be the dumping ground for the world’s greenhouse gas emissions.
Our region has been blessed with some of the most remarkable natural assets, landscapes, and heritage, and we have to preserve them and use our infrastructure to protect against climate change, rather than just build more roads to get people to our place.
Since the announcement, he has been at the centre of a new debate.
In a city where the mayor has been at the centre of many public disputes, his decision to run for re-election under the Climate Change Act has raised questions.
On the environment
He has been a vocal critic of the City of Toronto’s $50 billion transit plans.
He has spoken out against council’s decision to spend the proceeds from an expansion of the Pearson International Airport, arguing that it would be “very, very difficult” to make any savings from the airport expansion. He is also opposed to the mayor’s plan to introduce rapid transit in a North District, where he lives.
He has criticized the council for passing an agreement with the province to fund affordable housing for low-income families, saying the decision “should not be based on the amount of money we have, it should be based on people who live here.”
Darrell Moomau, who is running for re-election after being the mayor from 2013 through 2015, speaking to the crowd after raising his hand for the oath