Newmarket council chambers had a “fabulous first” today, on Monday January 13th, the first Committee of the Whole meeting back from the holiday break.
Brought to us by the excellent lobby efforts of the DRAWDOWN Newmarket team of volunteer citizens, the resolution to declare a climate emergency was brought before Mayor John Taylor, Regional Councillors, and Councillors of the town.
After a minute of silence and acknowledgement of the tragedy of the downed airplane in Iran, the agenda item of considering the resolution was brought to the front of the list. There were about 20 residents in the council chambers to hear the delegation in support of this motion, and so it was very considerate to the audience for the Chair to do this.
After the carefully deliberate speech by Debbie Fletcher-Queen, which included an acknowledgement of Newmarket’s climate adaptation and mitigation efforts up to this point in time, there were a couple of comments by councillors to show their appreciation for the show of support by the people.
The Mayor graciously mentioned that his father, the former Mayor, was also in the audience (along with sister Leah Taylor- Roy, recent federal election candidate), and reminded us that much of the sustainability measures already in place were because of his leadership.
The page long resolution was created by the Mayor, who said that many of the points were taken from other municipalities that had declared a climate emergency. Then it was read to the audience, had no changes made to it whatsoever, and the vote was taken.
The climate declaration was passed unanimously.
Congratulations to our DRAWDOWN Newmarket friends, and the municipal leaders of the Town of Newmarket. Thanks for doing the right thing, and for making it short and sweet, and without drama....only intense concern for consideration to solve the climate change of the planet by finding ways to draw down greenhouse gas emissions.
Written by Liz Couture, Drawdown Richmond Hill
