1 Sustainable Urban Development in Canada: Global Urban
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Sustainable Urban Development in Canada: Global Urban Development (GUD) Report to the Government of Sweden’s Mistra Foundation for Strategic Environmental Research Dr. Nola-Kate Seymoar, President and CEO, International Centre for Sustainable Cities, Vancouver, Canada, September 20071 Part I: Background and Major Developments 1. The Canadian Urban Agenda In 1999 the National Roundtable on Environment and Economy (NRTEE)’s International Committee, chaired by Mike Harcourt (former Mayor of Vancouver and Premier of British Columbia), called for a program that would market Canadian know how and technology about urban sustainability – in cities in developing and newly industrializing countries. In response, the Sustainable Cities Initiative (SCI) was created in Industry Canada, and began piloting its programs in 1999 in China, Brazil and Poland. It worked in partnership with local municipalities and a number of private sector and not-for-profit partners including the International Centre for Sustainable Cities (ICSC). Needs assessments (roadmaps) were completed for each city and based on these roadmaps, Canadian suppliers were engaged to respond – in some cases on a straight commercial basis paid by the local authority and in others on the basis of assistance from the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) and other aid agencies. By 2002, the program had won an award from the World Business Council for Sustainable Development and was expanded overseas to 17 cities. The Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) had been operating an international program since the late eighties2 and with financial support from CIDA, FCM, the Canadian Urban Institute (CUI) and a private sector consulting firm (AgriTeam) developed a number of ‘local government support programs’ in Central Europe and South East Asia. The international program was led by Brock Carlton and developed a solid reputation for its work bringing Canadian local government representatives to work with their counterparts in developing countries. In 2000, FCM was engaged by the Government of Canada to administer a green fund for municipal infrastructure and established the Canadian Centre for Sustainable Communities. Its Director, Louise Comeau, an articulate and passionate leader on climate change issues, 1 The views compiled in this paper have been drawn from the authors experience and have not been confirmed by the groups mentioned. This scan is limited to developments in English Canada and does not review the actors or developments in Quebec nor in First Nations communities. 2 This program now operates from the International Centre for Municipal Development 1 had the ear of the Prime Minister. The Centre partnered with ICLEI-Local Governments for Sustainability to implement a climate change campaign and began hosting annual conferences on community sustainability. As well as the solid research and lobbying by FCM, at the national level, in 2001- 2002 a number of key actors and institutions in Canada worked to advance an urban agenda. It was supported by a report by the Toronto Dominion Bank Financial Group on the need for investment in urban infrastructure and in November 2002, a report (Canada’s Urban Strategy: A Blueprint for Action)3 of the Liberal Party Caucus Task Force on Urban Issues headed by Member of Parliament Judy Sgro from Toronto. In response, in December 2003, the Liberals appointed another Member of Parliament from Toronto, John Godfrey, to serve as Parliamentary Secretary with a special emphasis on cities. In January 2004 they introduced a New Deal for Cities and Communities, created a Cities Secretariat in the Privy Council Office, and established an External Advisory Committee on Cities and Communities, chaired by the Honorable Mike Harcourt, then chair of the International Centre for Sustainable Cities (ICSC). Cities were given a 100% rebate on the Goods and Services Tax (GST) – seven billion dollars of unconditional funds over a 10 year period. The election campaign of June 2004 featured the New Deal and with the election of a Liberal government, Godfrey was named as the first Minister of State for Infrastructure and Communities. In 2005, the minority government with the support of the New Democratic Party (NDP), negotiated agreements with the Provincial4 and territorial governments to provide a gas tax rebate totaling five billion dollars over a five year period for green infrastructure and an additional two billion indefinitely for other infrastructure. 800 million dollars was provided over a two year period for public transportation. At the international level during this period, Canada rejoined UN HABITAT’s Governing Council and agreed to host the third World Urban Forum (WUF III) in Vancouver in 20065. Planning for WUF III progressed under the Minister for Western Economic Diversification, Vancouver MP Stephen Owen and Mike Harcourt was named the Co-Chair of the National Advisory Committee. In preparation, the Canadian Government, along with IBM and UN HABITAT, hosted the Habitat JAM in December 2005 – engaging 39,000 participants from around the world in the largest electronic consultation ever held for an international event6. WUF III was held in June 2006 and attracted over 10,000 delegates to Vancouver to discuss the theme “From Ideas to Action”. ICSC produced a CD of 70Actionable Ideas from the Habitat JAM that was distributed to each of the delegates. Harcourt’s External Advisory Committee on Cities and Communities as it was known, held consultations across the country and launched its report at the WUF III. The report - From 3 The report centered on three themes: A National Affordable Housing Strategy; A National Sustainable Infrastructure Program and a National Transit/Transportation Program. 4 Except Newfoundland 5 ICSC had been a catalyst in persuading the federal government to host the event on the 30th anniversary of the 1976 Habitat Conference that had led to the founding of what is now the UN HABITAT Programme. 6 The International Centre for Sustainable Cities was commissioned by the Canadian government to analyze the 4000 pages of dialogue and identify 70 Actionable ideas. These were described on a CD that was distributed to each of the participants at the WUF. 2 Restless Communities to Resilient Places called for a “double devolution” - the delegation of responsibilities and financial resources from the federal to provincial to local government. Harcourt advocated strongly for increased financial resources to catch- up and keep-up to the need for infrastructure renewal, and challenged cities and communities to look ahead and envision their long term desired future and then to ‘back cast’ from that future to establish mid range strategies and immediate action plans. Just before WUF III, the Liberal minority government was defeated and a Conservative minority government was elected in 2006. Although the Conservatives did not embrace an urban agenda as one of its core platforms, neither did it eliminate the Cities Secretariat nor withdraw from the gas tax agreements. It did cancel Industry Canada’s Sustainable Cities Initiative program, did not commit to any legacy programs from WUF III, reformulated Infrastructure Canada to include Transportation and left it to implement the gas tax agreements. Two other significant papers were written in 2006/7. Judith Maxwell, of the Canadian Policy Research Networks wrote a paper for the Community Foundations of Canada entitled Looking Down the Road: Leadership for Canada’s Changing Communities. In early 2007, the Conference Board of Canada, an influential private sector think tank, issued a report Successful Canadian Cities reinforcing the results of the Harcourt committee and calling for rethinking the urban/federal/provincial support for cities. 2. Long-term Planning for Urban Sustainability One of the concrete outcomes of the New Deal for Cities and Communities that continued was the establishment of a funding program for Integrated Community Sustainability Planning (ICSP). The story of ICSP is another case of influence by a small number of related actors. In 2001 the International Gas Union established an international urban design competition calling for 100 year plans for sustainability. Over a period of 18 months participation in creating the Canadian entry fundamentally changed the nature of sustainability planning in Canada. The Canadian bid, citiesPLUS, was developed by four partners and focused on Metro Vancouver7. Led by Sebastian Moffatt and Elisa Campbell of the Sheltair Group, a private sector consulting firm, the team included, Lloyd Axworthy and Mike Harcourt of the Liu Institute for Global Issues, Nola-Kate Seymoar of the International Centre for Sustainable Cities and Ken Cameron, Director of Policy and Planning for the Greater Vancouver Regional District (Metro Vancouver). The team consulted widely and integrated ideas and best practices from other cities and from many different planning frameworks8. The experience of looking out 100 years transformed those involved and in 2003 when citiesPLUS won the gold prize, ICSC and the others determined to continue to their learning. 7 Metro Vancouver is the new name for the Greater Vancouver Regional District. 8 including the Natural Step, Smart Growth, MetroQuest, the ecological footprint, Local Agenda 21 and elsewhere. 3 Moffatt went on to work internationally and locally on energy issues, Campbell became the founder of the Design Centre for Sustainability at UBC and an Associate of ICSC. ICSC, along with Harcourt and