Climate Change Forum hosted by Pontiac MP at D’Arcy McGee
Pontiac riding MP Will Amos held the second of two public forums on the subject of climate change on September 7, at Aylmer’s D’Arcy McGee High School, with around 70 in attendance. The event began with a presentation by Guillaume Lavoie, an opposition member of Montreal City Council.
Lavoie linked the idea of a sharing economy to the reduction of greenhouse gases. He focused on utilization, access rather than ownership, with ease of entry into access. “80% of the stuff in a home is not used even once a month,” he stated. He looked to our future as one in which we will be a nation of micro-entrepreneurs. By 2025, he predicted, half of the economy will be sharing.
A car, he said, costs over $9,000 a year and is mostly occupied by just one person. His solution is to fill up cars, as well as to increase mass transportation.
“Rural society,” he said, “is by nature collaborative.” Such collaboration is easier to achieve in rural areas, but it is also possible in cities, he argued. “There are cultural and institutional handicaps to overcome.”
Turning to Amos, the MP observed that climate change has led to floods and fires and a melting of the permafrost in the North. He opened most of the rest of the meeting to observations and suggestions from the audience.
Among the suggestions were a nation-wide electricity grid and greater protection of forests, with use just within the country, not looking at lumber exports. Another participant identified airplanes as an important source of air pollution. Diane Vermette, a Hull resident, argued that Canada needs to stop subsidizing polluting activities.
When we asked Amos about his reaction to the evening, he replied that it was “fabulous.” He was impressed by “the quality, diversity, and creativity. There is no one solution,” he observed. “The solution needs to be an all-of-the-above approach.”
MP Greg Fergus urged that we must work smart and do more with less. He singled out Chelsea and Shawville as communities that were doing good work in combating climate change.
