[getsmart-l] Environmentally aware politicians responding to public concerns

[John O'Gorman]

" "Politics is really being done differently now," said Shapero, co-chair of a group of 30 municipal leaders who support the greenbelt. "

http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&call_pageid=971358637177&c=Article&cid=1164667810474

Politics adapts to green outlook
Environmentally aware politicians responding to public concerns
Nov. 28, 2006. 01:00 AM
LAURIE MONSEBRAATEN
STAFF REPORTER


The election this month of numerous GTA mayors and councillors who support environmentally friendly development has emboldened activists to think big for elections in 2010. 

"Our goal is to have up to half of all local politicians in the GTA pushing the green agenda by 2010," said environmental lawyer David Donnelly. 

"And we'll do it by defeating or converting an incumbent to the cause." 

About 30 per cent of local politicians in the GTA support curbing urban sprawl and building more compact communities, he said. 

Donnelly and Markham Councillor Erin Shapero helped raise money for candidates who refused developer donations in the Nov. 13 elections. 

And early next year they are planning workshops to recruit new candidates for the next election. 

Across Greater Toronto, voters elected several dozen candidates who ran "developer-free" campaigns, including mayors in Oakville, Clarington, Ajax and Toronto. 

In addition, many candidates pledged to protect provincial greenbelt land from development and to help create green building standards in their communities. 

Even in Newmarket, Aurora, Markham, Caledon and Burlington, where mayoral races didn't focus on environmental issues, the winners seemed to pick up on public sentiment and went on record in support of urban green space. 


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      Across Greater Toronto, voters elected several dozen candidates who ran 

      `developer-free' campaigns 
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"This election showed that there is a public appetite for more environmental protection," Donnelly said. 

"And it showed the public wants sustainable development to be part of municipal government." 

Newly elected Pickering Councillor Bonnie Littley said both municipal staff and the public understand the economic advantages of protecting valuable farmland and building more environmentally friendly communities. 

"It's just the politicians who don't seem to get it," she said. "But I think that's changing." 

Ajax Mayor Steve Parish, a fierce defender of the provincial greenbelt. 

Parish, who has financed his campaigns without developer contributions since 1997, said the environment is becoming a top public concern in the GTA. 

"These revolutions don't happen in one election," he said. "Certainly there was a start in this election and I think it can go a lot further in the next." 

Unless incumbents change their views and become green, voters are going to replace them with people who are more open to these ideas, he added. 

Shapero, who in 2000 was a lone voice on Markham council and one of the only local politicians in booming York Region who didn't take campaign donations from developers, said local politicians elected this month are helping to build a critical mass of support across the GTA. 

"Politics is really being done differently now," said Shapero, co-chair of a group of 30 municipal leaders who support the greenbelt. 

"We're sharing resources. We're sharing ideas. It's not just about the parochial needs of one municipality over the other anymore. We're looking at how we create a sustainable bio-region."
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