Toronto City Hall - Council Chambers
Thursday, June 7, 2007: 9:00-11:45 am

The eighth annual Smog Summit took place on Thursday June 7, 2007. It provided Federal, Provincial and Municipal government leaders with the opportunity to announce new initiatives they will undertake in the coming year to reduce smog, air pollution and greenhouse gases. The Toronto and Region 2007 Inter-governmental Declaration on Clean Air was also announced at the 2007 Smog Summit and presents the joint actions of the Greater Toronto Area Clean Air Council for the upcoming year.

2007 Smog Summit Proceedings
Welcome | GTA-CAC Progress Update | Toronto Hydro Presentation | Provincial Clean Air Announcements | Municipal Clean Air Announcements | Transportation | Clean Air and Climate Change Planning | Natural and Built Environment | Energy | Clean Air Day Award | Closing Remarks

Welcome

Mayor David Miller, City of Toronto
Listen to presentation (5.9MB MP3)

• Welcome to the 8th annual Smog Summit, the theme for this year is Action on Clean Air and Climate Change.
• It is only by taking action on clean air and climate change by all sectors of society and all levels of government - federal, provincial, regional and municipal - that we will rise to the environment challenges we face.
• I would like to thank all my colleagues for taking time out of their schedules to share and hear all the variety of opportunities of clean air and climate change actions being implemented across the GTA.
• A new Environics poll recently released found that over 50% of GTA residents named air pollution (without prompting) as the greatest environmental concern across the region.
• It is important to continue to promote the link between actions that address smog and climate change as both of these issues are a result of the burning of fossil fuels.
• The City of Toronto has reduced greenhouse gas emissions that result from our own operation by 40% of 1990 levels, but we are still working to do more. Some of the examples of the actions being undertaken by the City of Toronto to reduce energy use include: Fleet Services recently launched an idle-free campaign aimed at those who drive city owned cars and trucks. A training program is in place to turn vehicle off immediately upon stopping or no later than 10 seconds. This simple action is estimated to save $650,000 in fuel costs on an annual basis. There will be energy efficiency retrofits on 22 police stations, including police headquarters.
• A recent inventory found that emissions resulting from City’s operations account for only 6% of the smog causing and climate change emissions in the geographic area of the City of Toronto. That is why the City of Toronto is putting so much effort into engaging the community and other partners in the City’s Clean Air and Climate Change Plan – Change is in the Air.
• Residents has indicated that they strongly support action that would expand and improve the City’s bike lanes and trails; increase the availability of public transit, discourage car use and provide access to resources and tools that will help them make their homes and businesses more environmentally friendly.
• We have also heard that quite a few residents would welcome a fee system that creates a financial disincentive to discourage activities that cause smog and climate change pollutants. It is not often that government officials hear support from the public to the idea of increasing fees, but we have heard that when it comes to encouraging actions that benefit the environment.
• There are close to 1000 high-rise residential units in the City of Toronto, the second highest concentration of these types of buildings behind only New York City. These building were predominantly built in 1960 and 1970s and are very energy inefficient. Cladding these building could reduce their energy use by 50% - but we do not want to stop there. Why not add green roofs, solar hot water heaters, enclosed balconies, on-site waste processing, food production, geothermal energy, these are just a few of the opportunities being reviewed as part of the Tower Renewal Proposal.
• The next phase of the Change is in the Air Clean Air and Climate Change Plan is in the works. A short list of actions to be undertaken starting this summer is being reviewed by the Works Department and at the end of June the City will release a list of the immediate actions it will undertake as part of Phase I of the Change is in the Air Plan.
• It is wonderful to be able to hear about and share with other jurisdictions in the GTA on the actions municipalities are undertaking, it once again reinforces the reality that Cities lead on smog and climate change reductions.

Manny Sousa, Enbridge Gas Distribution
Listen to presentation (3.9MB MP3)

• The environment has finally been getting the profile it deserves. In recent months, Canadians have ranked the environment as their most important issue, even beating out health care.
• Governments and businesses are facing higher expectations from voters and from their customers. The public is demanding real action. Both the public and the private sector must rise to meet these expectations.
• Fortunately action is in the air. The City of Toronto outlined their commitment to action with their Change is in the Air Plan. Utilities like Enbridge are finding ways to address not only smog precursor emissions but greenhouse gas emissions as well.
• Enbridge introduced energy efficiency programs long before it was fashionable. Over the last decade our energy conservation actions have helped our residential and business customers save over 6 million tonnes of CO2 and over 3 billion m3 of natural gas. That is enough natural gas to heat 750,000 homes for a year or take 1 million cars off the road for a year. These results were achieved through installation of programmable thermostats and by conducting energy audits and retrofits.
• Within our own operations, despite increasing output in volume, we have reduced our carbon footprint by 22% over the last 15 years simply by upgrading older pipelines.
• Enbridge has the largest natural gas powered fleet in Canada with over 500 natural gas vehicles. Enbridge works closely with the City of Toronto and Toronto Hydro who also run a fleet of these fuel-efficient vehicles.
• Enbridge employees have on their own initiative launched 2 natural gas vanpools and a third is on the way.
• Enbridge is now in the process of building a near zero emission hybrid fuel cell in our northeast Toronto office. This hybrid fuel cell will recover energy from the flow of natural gas in much the same way as hydropower captures water energy.
• Enbridge and Toronto Hydro have launched a joint service to develop clean and green power generation to serve our customer base.
• Enbridge has partnered with the City of Toronto Air Quality Improvement Branch to develop greenhouse gas and smog emissions database by postal code of natural gas use.
• Enbridge is also a sponsor of Habitat for Humanity and we have sponsored the first Habitat ENERGY STAR project where 19 energy efficient homes will be built in Scarborough.
• The Enbridge Awaire Fund supports many environmental awareness projects and community events. For example the Awaire Fund recently supported the Smart Commute North Toronto and Vaughan Transportation Demand Management initiative and the Simcoe County Health Unit’s Anti-Idling initiative, and the Citizen’s Environmental Watch Lichen study l-lichen serves as a biological indicator of air pollution levels.
• Enbridge was ranked in the Global 100 most sustainable businesses, along side only 4 other Canadian businesses. We need to get more Canadian businesses on that list.
   

Eva Ligeti, Clean Air Partnership
View presentation slides | Listen to presentation (6.4MB MP3) 

•  CAP has been working with 31 partners across the GTA. We meet throughout the year to share best practices whereby collaboration, cross learning, and leap-frogging takes place.
• The key to success is political leadership combined with staff and financial resources.
• Each year at the Smog Summit the GTA-CAC member jurisdictions sign on to the annual workplan through the Inter-governmental Declaration on Clean Air. Over the years CAP and the GTA-CAC work together to pool research, share best practices and to build capacity within GTA-CAC jurisdiction for the implementation of Declaration items. The attached presentation provides a brief snapshot of the progress that is being made across the region.

David O’Brien, Toronto Hydro
Listen to presentation (12MB MP3) 

• I work in the world of utilities. Toronto Hydro is the largest municipally owned utility in Canada and the second largest in North American. This means it is a very big company, and as many of you know it is very hard to move big companies away from their traditional way of doing business.
• Today there are two types of utilities –you can be a utility that simply buys the power and distributes it – or you can be a utility that does that (it is our business after all) but goes further and does more than that. One that goes outside the old box to shift the business paradigm by providing customers with the option to save energy rather than simply consuming it.
• I like to think Toronto Hydro has taken that next step and are now dragging a host of others along with us into the world of conservation.
• Every kW saved is a kW not generated – that means less air pollution, especially in the summer time.
• In 2004 the Ontario government rightly determined that utilities should be given the mandate to lower customer energy usage.
• Toronto Hydro worked with 6 other utilities to develop and deliver common strategies to reduce peak demand and deliver programs that could be easily understood and undertaken by the public.
• $40 million dollars were invested between 2005 and 2007. Toronto Hydro had to create a team that moved the company from being an electricity distributor to being an electricity conserver. Everything we do is now done with conservation taken into consideration.
• Toronto Hydro distributes 5000 MW through its networks on an annual basis. We committed to reduce that amount by 5% or 250 MW per year. Toronto Hydro met this target in February of 2007.
• We achieved this goal by working in partnership. We worked with customers, businesses, environmental groups and retailers.
• To give you an idea of how the paradigm gets shifted – We approached all the big retailers (Home Depot, RONA, Canadian Tire, Home Hardware etc.) to partner with us to promote and provide incentives for energy efficient products they sell. Home Depot was the only one who put the effort into partnering. We worked with them and the Clean Air Foundation to deliver CFL giveaways, and the Keep Cool program. The day after we launched these programs the other retailers called me up and asked, “Why did you do it with Home Depot and not with us”? I told them “because Home Depot put effort into developing the partnership, you are welcome to come in when we do it again” You have to show success to get the slower ones out of the gate to bite.
• We took a chance on the Summer Challenge program (reduce your energy use by 10% and get 10% off your bill) despite the fact that so many people told us it would not work. 30% of our customers qualified for a 10% reduction in their bill. Almost 200,000 customers qualified and we gave them back $3.8 million in rebates on their bill.
• We partnered with the City of Toronto and the Toronto Business Improvement Association to host 16 community events to provide the opportunity for customers to replace in-efficient festive lights for energy efficient LED festive lights.
• We have signed on 37,000 customers to our peak saver program – where we put a device on their air conditioner that allows us to control their air conditioner and to lower its use during peak demand and later turn it back to the regular setting. Usually they are at work and do not even notice any change and they save money.
• Keep Cool is running again this year for three weekends in June and is going to be run province wide along with the Peak Saver program.
• We at Toronto Hydro have an ongoing commitment to increasing the urban forest in the city. We have provided over $500,000 over the last 10 years to increasing the urban forest. We want to encourage our customers to join us by encouraging them to move to paperless bills. The first 10,000 customers who sign up for that will have a 3-6 year old tree planted on their behalf. We aim to plant 10,000 trees this year.
• Our annual report is totally paperless – it is not printed, instead it is available online.
• Toronto Hydro has been lucky enough to be in a position where we could make a difference and we were allocated resources to make that difference happen. The biggest thing we have learned through this experience is that when you are lucky enough to be in a position to make a difference you can be one of two things – a leader or a follower. I pledge that Toronto Hydro will always be a leader.

Laurel Broten, Minister of the Environment 
Listen to presentation (10.3MB MP3)

• The environmental climate has changed over the last year. It is an absolute imperative that we take action on air quality.
• Last year 5000 premature deaths were attributed to poor air quality. Ontario lost almost 9 billion dollars in health care and related costs and a great deal of that human life and financial costs was centered here in the GTA.
• Our government has been working to develop our climate change and air pollution plan.
• Last year we announced our Clean Air Plan that set new standards for over 40 new air toxins.
• We are regulating the inclusion of ethanol into gasoline.
• Within our own operations, LEED will soon be the standard for all new government buildings, we will pilot green roofs on government buildings and MOE’s office at 135 St. Clair West is 100% bullfrog powered.
• The phase-out of incandescent light bulbs will result in 6 million MW of saved electricity and save over 1 million tones of CO2/year.
• We need to look beyond our borders. Transboundary air pollution is a huge environmental challenge. We have just launched a joint initiative with California to create new local carbon fuel standards, which will reduce transportation emissions by 10% by 2020 – the equivalent of taking 700,000 cars off the road.
• We have joined forces with the Western States Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, have signed a letter of intent with Northeastern United States Regional Air Quality Management and signed a similar agreement with the State of Michigan.
• We will be hosted the third annual Shared Air Summit on June 18th.
• But we need to do so much more - we cannot afford to wait. In the coming weeks we will be unveiling parts of our new Climate Change Plan. It will be a comprehensive plan that outlines targets and the steps we will need to undertake in order to achieve those targets. 

Mayor Cam Jackson – Burlington
Listen to presentation (4.5MB MP3) 

• Biodiesel has been used for all on-road and off-road city vehicles from May to September since 2004 and 2003 respectively. This year our lawn maintenance contractor is using biodisel as well for off-road vehicles – while this results in approximately a 5% increase in costs it is well worth it.
• Burlington introduced new transit incentives since the last Smog Summit including: a 90 minute transfer policy allowing as many stops as needed over a 90 minute period in any direction; and a monthly student activity pass allowing unlimited travel after 5pm and all day weekends and holidays. We continue to offer bike racks on all our buses; free transit on Clean Air Day and Canada Day; loonie summer fares (July and August) after 7:00 p.m.; continuation of the very popular 50 cents fare on Burlington Transit to and from the GO Stations; and free transfer passes from Burlington Transit to connecting buses in Hamilton and Oakville to encourage inter-regional travel.
• We have launched a Smart Commute employee trip reduction project for city staff working in the downtown area. It includes enclosed bicycles lockers, a wall rack, and clothes lockers in the change rooms; emergency ride home; and an employee parking exchange program where employees can exchange their parking spot for a free transit pass or a closer parking spot if they carpool.

Councillor George Carlson – Mississauga
View presentation slides | Listen to presentation (3.8MB MP3)

• Continued prioritization of public transit through the implementation of the first phase of the Integrated Bus Rapid Transit Provincial Plan for 100 km 2 lane bus only rapid transit network running from Oakville to Pickering.
• The first phase of the Mississauga segment will be implemented in the next few years and will run from highway 403/East Gate Parkway/Eglington (see presentation for map) Estimate is for an additional 5000 transit users by 2011, resulting in an annual benefit of $80 million in travel time savings, vehicle operations and reduced emissions of 6.3 tonnes of GHG on an annual basis. Construction is estimated to take about 5 years.
• Feasibility study of transit from Hurontario to Port Credit will be undertaken in the coming year to link Port Credit with Brampton through light rail.

Councillor Alan Johnston – Oakville
Listen to presentation (2.6MB MP3)

• Pilot project using hydrogen fuel injection in transit fleet – it has been tested in emergency vehicles.
• Oakville has a Student Freedom Pass program at $10 per month allowing unlimited travel after 5 and all day on weekends and holidays; there is also a Sheridan College Youth Pass being developed.
• Bike racks have been purchased and will be installed on all buses.
• Currently have purchased 3 cars; 3 trucks and one SUV, more hybrids will be added to the fleet in 2007/2008. There has also been the addition of 2 Smart cars for the Oakville fire department.
• We have launched a Smart Commute program for employee trip reduction program providing incentives for carpool, transit and cycling.
• North Oakville Sustainability Plan includes a transit first corridor system relying heavily on walkable communities.

Regional Councillor Joyce Frustaglio – City of Vaughan
Listen to presentation (2.7MB MP3)

• Like to announce the launch of Vaughan’s employee trip reduction program in coordination with North Toronto/Vaughan Smart Commute.
• We have also added 2 smart cars to our fleet.
• Our Cycling and Pedestrian and Environmental Master plan completed. These plans will guide decision making.
• Construction has begun on 2 new LEED Gold buildings
• Vaughan has been working with a developer to begin construction of an Energy Star subdivision of 300 homes.
• We have begun implementation of a Green bin program.

Regional Councillor Joyce Frustaglio - York Region
Listen to presentation 

• York Region is working on adopting and implementing a Regional Air Quality Strategy.
• York Region is currently assessing the viability of a wind power project at the Sutton Water Pollution Control Plant. Construction of a 500 kilowatt turbine could potentially save 220 tonnes of greenhouse gases annually
• All new regional buildings must meet LEED silver standards.
• York Region testing biodisel in 5 VIVA fleets
• York Region is planning to purchase 5 hybrid/diesel electric transit buses in 2008
• York Region is working towards a forest cover of 25% through greening strategy.
• York Region’s Draft Sustainability Strategy was just endorsed by Council – it lists over 80 actions the region plans to undertake.

Regional Councillor Bonnie Littley – Pickering and Durham Region
Listen to presentation (4.9MB MP3)

Pickering

• Launch of sustainable Pickering initiative with a new Office of Sustainability being set up (www.sustainablepickering.com)
• Adopted a LEED standard for municipal buildings and for neighbourhood design
• Pickering has a commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 6% by 2012 in line with Kyoto

Durham

• New Climate Change committee
• New Food Policy Council to encourage local and sustainable farming practices

Regional Councillor Rick Goldring – Halton Region
Listen to presentation (2.5MB MP3)

• Halton Region will undertake an Air Quality Monitoring and Modeling program – will monitor and model air quality across the region to inform planning decision. Air quality policies will be developed to encourage more livable and sustainable committees including such policies as LEED and ENERGY STAR standards.
• We just passed our strategic plan and are now in the process of developing a GHG reduction strategy for regional facilities and operations.
• There will also be the development of a clean air and climate change plan in the coming year. 

Mayor Tony Van Bynen – Newmarket
Listen to presentation (5.7MB MP3) 

• Newmarket has a 1% tax for dedicated land acquisition. It has been allocated to buy environmentally sensitive lands and has increased green space from 9% 5 years ago to 12% today.
• There are an additional 16 kms in trails to be built this year - $3 million over the last 5 years has been spent on connecting these trails.
• Newmarket has provided incentives to developers to meet or exceed the ENERGY STAR standard, it has been voluntary but has been very effective in increasing participation.
• We have allocated a green fund of $25,000/year to pay for additional costs of more energy efficient purchases.
• An additional 3 hybrids have been added to the fleet.
• We have just launched the first ecosubdivision in Canada in an attempt to show eco homes to be affordable and mainstream. It will result in a 25% decrease in water use and a 60% reduction in energy use
• Launched an energy retrofit program in the range of $1.6 million that has a payback of about 10 years and will result in a savings of 563 tonnes of GHG/year (similar to taking 83 midsize vehicles off the road each year).

Councillor Vito Spatafora – Richmond Hill
Listen to presentation (3.4MB MP3)

• Richmond Hill is going to be using geothermal heating and cooling in the new Richmond Hill Centre for the Performing Arts.
• We have a new Policy requiring that all town buildings over 500m2 must be built to silver LEED standards – any retrofits undertaken will also require these buildings to adopt green design and construction principles.
• We have 6 hybrid vehicles in our fleet and plan to expand to even more in the coming year. These vehicles have been found to use half the fuel of conventional vehicles.
• In 2007 – 2008 we will embark on the implementing the Pedestrian and Cycling Master plan – this plan will connect trails and travel corridors.
• Our wind feasibility study has been completed and the Town will be making a decision on whether to move ahead with the construction of 3 wind turbines for a total of 5 MW (about enough to generate the power required by 2500 homes).
• We continue to plant 10,000 trees a year– have planted 50,000 trees over the last 5 years. 

Mayor Marolyn Morrison – Caledon
Listen to presentation (6.0MB MP3) 

• Caledon is pleased to add two more clean air initiatives to the ever-growing list of clean air actions being undertaken by the Town of Caledon. They are the Mayfield West Development and the Community Energy Project.
• The Mayfield West Development will be the Town of Caledon’s newest community. The planned population is approximately 9,000 people and approximately 2,845 dwelling units. Mayfield West will incorporate a number of Council endorsed sustainable design planning principles: all new residential construction will be designed and operated to a minimum Energy Star certification; design of extensive greenway corridors to connect key natural features and facilitate the movement of flora and fauna; above average amount of designated green space due to the emphasis on natural habitat protection and water conservation and protection; emphasis on pedestrian friendly boulevards, bicycle paths and an expansion and enhancement of the existing trail network; design of the road network street pattern and streetscape design which provides opportunities for future transit service in the community and connectivity to other areas of the Town and the Greater Toronto Area; and encouragement of commuter parking lots. Construction is anticipated to begin in the fall of 2007.
• Community Energy Project has been made possible in part by a significant grant through the Province of Ontario’s Rural Infrastructure Investment Initiative. The community energy project comprises two key components: a cogeneration and pilot solar installation at the Town’s largest and most visited recreation facility. The cogeneration component will begin May 2007 and should be complete by mid-fall. Cogeneration is inherently efficient and will therefore contribute to significant emission reductions. The cogeneration component could eliminate approximately 539 tons of carbon dioxide per year, which is equivalent to moving the carbon emissions of 92 cars. This is the first municipal cogeneration application the Town is aware of. The solar component will be phased and therefore, will be proposed to be part of the 2008 capital budget. Upon budget approval, the solar project should be completed by late spring/early summer of 2008. It will formally start the Town’s commitment to renewable energy and will serve as a community demonstration project.

Councillor John Henry – Oshawa
Listen to presentation (2.7MB MP3)

• Energy Retrofit of Civic Admin Building resulted in 56% reduction in natural gas and a 52% reduction in electricity and $500,000 in savings on an annual basis.
• 2007 launch of an Energy Management Office - initial energy reduction target is 25% in the first three years.
• Construction of a $ 6 million, 2.4 megawatt Co-Gen facility at Durham College/University of Ontario Institute of Technology campus by OPUC.
• Traffic signal conversion project will result in an 80% reduction in energy use.
• Establishment of an E-85 filling station.
• Addition of 8 hybrid vehicles to existing fleet.
• Passed an anti-idling bylaw in 2006.

Councillor Valerie Burke, Markham
Listen to presentation (2.8MB MP3)

• Last year at the Smog Summit, Markham announced the creation of the Markham Energy Conservation Office (MECO). Since then MECO has been involved in a number of energy conservation initiatives including Cool Shops and the appliance retirement program - 580 small retail shops changed over 1200 incandescent bulbs for CFLs, and the Haul Away Your Energy Hog helped residents retire over 1300 appliances (refrigerators, freezers and air conditioners) saving over 1000 tones of CO2.
• In the coming year MECO will be retrofitting municipal facilities and 3 community centers and assessing street-lighting opportunities for energy conservation.
• Markham will be launching the largest solar district feasibility study looking at the application of solar thermal in a 400 unit condo development – energy will be collected from solar panels and stored underground this would be the largest commercial application in the GTA and the second such application in Canada (first one is Otokoks, Alberta).
• In the coming year Markham will be undertaking the initial implementation of the Pathways and Trails and Cycling Master Plans.

Mayor Susan Fennel – Speaking on behalf of Peel Region
Listen to presentation (5.3MB MP3)

• Development of an Energy Management Plan – looking at sustainable energy opportunities across all regional operations and services.
• Strong focus on water efficiency opportunities – water pumping and treatment is the biggest energy use in the Region of Peel, representing a consistent average demand of between 32-43 MW. Energy costs for water in 2006 were $25 million.
• A control system to reduce the amount and cost of electricity consumed by the Region’s water distribution system will be implemented.
• A comprehensive energy audit of all water and waste water treatment plants, as well as all pumping stations in the South Peel system will be conducted.
• The Region will provide rebates ranging from $60 to $140 to property owners or operators of industrial, commercial, and institutional facilities who replace inefficient toilets with new Peel-approved water-efficient models.
• A water wise demonstration garden at the Lakeview Water Treatment Plant will be developed to educate residents on the advantages of creating a low maintenance garden.
• Approximately 1,000 Peel Living residential units will be retrofitted with water-efficient toilets, bathroom and kitchen aerators, and shower heads in Phase III. With an investment of approximately $715,000 for Phases 1 and II, over 3,500 residential units were retrofitted with water efficient devices.
• The outdoor water use of conventional irrigation systems around Peel facilities and municipal sports fields will be investigated. Various controlling devices to evaluate water savings will be installed.
• Five gasoline powered compact cars will be replaced with gasoline/electric hybrids and a bio-diesel pilot project will be continued.

Mayor Susan Fennel - Brampton

• Continue to use biodisel in its fleet
• Continuing to increase the number of hybrid vehicles used by by-law officers

Councillor Joanne Dies – Ajax
Listen to presentation (4.0MB MP3)

• Ajax will implement the expansion of its Parks and Trail program.
• Ajax has constructed its first LEED standard fire hall resulting in a 50% reduction in energy use. The fire hall incorporates a green roof, cisterns, ground source heat pump and will hopefully set the standard for public facilities in the future.

Wednesday June 6th was national Clean Air Day. Clean Air day is a national initiative started in 1999 to build support for the implementation of clean air action by all sectors of society.

We are pleased to announce the winners of the second annual Clean Air day award which is meant to highlight and recognize leaders who are actively working to reduce air pollution emissions.

Private Sector Award
The winner of the private sector Clean Air day award is Toyota Canada for their leadership role in research and development of their hybrid drives.

• Toyota has been researching and developing the hybrid system with the aim to achieve low emissions and to conserve energy for over 30 years.Their first gas turbine hybrid, low emissions, vehicle was developed in 1970 and they began researching electic vehicles. An electric motor development program was established in the 1980s.
• Toyota's Hybrid Synergy Drive can be applied to various power sources. The Toronto Atmospheric Fund is presently piloting a plug in hybrid option double the gas mileage of conventional hybrids. During the first phase of the Toronto project, 10 vehicles – eight Toyoto Priuses, one Honda Civic Hybrid, and one Ford Escape Hybrid – will be converted and driven for a year under urban driving conditions. Car sharing network AutoShare, for example, will have a hybrid plugged in at one of its city parking spots, so members can test drive it in dry, wet and snowy seasons. Other organizations contributing a hybrid vehicle to the project include Bullfrog Power, Toronto Hydro, the University of Toronto, York University, architecture firm TAS Designbuild, and the Ontario ministries of transportation and Environment.

To accept the award on behalf of Toyota Canada is Stephen Beatty, Managing Director.

Public Sector Award
The winner of the public sector Clean Air day award is the Town of East Gwillimbury for their leadership in encouraging green development standards, not only within their own operations but within the community as a whole.

• The Town of East Gwillimbury is located in the northern part of York Region, just 30 minutes north of Toronto. While the Town is a small jurisdiction the leadership it has shown in working with developers to ensure the energy efficiency of new construction has shown enormous leadership and will hopefully be implemented in municipalities across the province and country.
• In September of 2006 East Gwillimbury Council passed a resolution adopting a Municipal policy directing all new Town facilities and new industrial, commercial, institutional and high-rise residential buildings within the municipality to be built to LEED Silver standards.
• This same policy also requires all major renovation projects for industrial, commercial, institutional and high rise residential buildings are required to meet LEED “Silver” after January, 2010.
• The policy follows Council’s previous policy initiative in May of 2006 that called for all new residential developments to meet ENERGY STAR® standards.

To accept the award on behalf of East Gwillimbury is Mayor of the Town of East Gwillimbury James Young. 

Mayor David Miller, City of Toronto
Listen to Closing Remarks (2.7MB MP3)

• I wanted to share a new initiative that came to me through the wonder of blackberry. I was just advised by the chair of the Toronto Police Services Board that they have just received their first hybrid police vehicle and that they are piloting 14 vehicles including hybrids and smart cars for parking enforcement.
• This morning we have heard about the wealth of clean air and climate change actions being undertaken across the GTA. It is a reminder that when municipalities decide to act they act. Here are a few of the actions that we heard about today: working on employee trip reduction programs; light bulb exchanges; parking for carpools; commitment to green buildings through green building standards and construction of LEED standard buildings; local food production; renewable energy; co-generation; energy retrofits; alternative fuels and these were just a few.
• Canada’s cities and towns are able to act and there were a number of us in this room who were just at the FCM meeting where we reached a national consensus on the need for sustainable funding for municipalities equivalent to 1 cent of the GST. I am mentioning this now because if you hear what is being done today on a shoestring, imagine what we could do if we got 9 cents of every tax dollar instead of only 8 cents per tax dollar. The results would be incredible.
• That is what I believe this Smog Summit is about at its heart – it’s about showcasing our actions to each other and I know next year the actions will be even stronger.