The Love Food Hate Waste campaign is dedicated to reducing the significant amounts of food thrown out daily in households right across the country, said Malcolm Brodie, chair of the National Zero Waste Council, a group organized in 2013 in B.C. in a partnership with Federation of Canadian Municipalities.

• Read more: Eating garbage

Canadians’ dubious reputation for throwing out tons of perfectly edible food is becoming more widely recognized but there hasn’t been enough attention put on it, nor focus on changing behaviours around food, said Brodie.

Canadians are among the worst of the developed nations in wasting food, with about 47 per cent occurring in the home. Over 60 per cent of the food thrown out is nutritious and with nothing wrong. The cost of all the thrown-out food to the average Canadian household is more than $1,100 per year.

Overall it amounts to 2.2 million tonnes of food wasted every year. That’s rotting food that ends up in landfills generating methane and contributing to Canada’s greenhouse gas emissions. All the land, water and inputs that went into producing, distributing and merchandising that food is wasted.

Canada “desperately needs” to put concerted effort into reducing food waste, Brodie said, adding the statistics are becoming more widely known but scant attention has been put towards addressing consumer behaviour.

“It really is offensive that we’ve adopted such bad habits in relation to food,” Brodie said. “The amount of food we’re wasting and the damage that causes to the environment and financially is very significant.”

Retailers on board

The LFHW campaign’s focus is on households and consumers in a first-ever co-ordinated national approach to help Canadians change their relationship with food.

“It only takes a small change, such as buying only what we need so food doesn’t spoil or get forgotten in the back of the fridge and is then thrown out,” Brodie said.

The campaign will also offer practical and easy tips for keeping and storing fresh food, using up existing ingredients and better planning to avoid overpurchasing food.

• Read more: Eat your package

The campaign now involves nine large urban centres as partners, including the cities of Toronto, Vancouver and Victoria, the Capital Regional District, Metro Vancouver, Province of B.C. and a group called RECYC-QUÉBEC.

Walmart Canada and Sobeys are also supporting the campaign.

Walmart has its own zero-food waste goals within its own operations by 2025, Lee Tappenden, Walmart Canada president and CEO said in a news release.

“By partnering with the National Zero Waste Council on the Love Food Hate Waste campaign we hope to champion and inspire more change and action that will significantly reduce food waste in Canada.”

The grocery stores are key sites to talk with consumers about food behaviours, better food-related habits, including knowing how to store purchased food, buying what you know you’ll use, and most importantly, meal planning so unnecessary food purchases are avoided.

This isn’t about buying less food, but making purchases more strategically, he said.

In the United Kingdom where similar campaigns have been underway has cut avoidable household food waste by 21 per cent, saving U.K. consumers 13 billion pounds, he said.

Addressing ‘best before’

The National Zero Waste Council has also released its Food Loss and Waste Strategy, a broader initiative which focuses on the need to change consumer behaviour and reduce food waste in the production and distribution systems — where the other half of Canada’s food waste occurs.

That strategy also calls for an overhaul of food labelling laws in order to alleviate confusion over ‘best before’ dates, and establishes a national goal to halve food waste by 2030.

• Read more: Cold-loving bacteria turns food waste into energy and fertilizer

That strategy is also NZWC’s contribution to the pending Food Policy for Canada.

Agriculture and Agri-Food Minister Lawrence MacAulay, has seen the food waste strategy and has commended the leadership of the National Zero Waste Council’s efforts. Brodie said it’s hoped as the campaign gains profile more provincial governments, including local governments will also support these efforts.

Quebec’s minister of sustainable development, environment and the fight against climate change has praised the newly launched Love Food Hate Waste campaign.

“From a sustainable development perspective, we have a collective duty to reduce waste before thinking about composting, even if composting is a better option than throwing food away,” she said.

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Those are poll results shared by the Association of Manitoba Municipalities (AMM) last week.

The AMM commissioned Probe Research to ask 1,000 Manitobans how much, if any, of new carbon tax revenues should be earmarked for municipalities to help pay for new infrastructure to handle weather extremes.

Sixty-seven per cent said municipalities should get “between one-half and all” of carbon tax revenues. The rest (21 per cent) felt municipalities should get less than half, while 11 per cent were unsure.

Municipalities are “on the front lines” when it comes to resiliency planning for the impact climate change will have, Chris Goertzen, AMM president said.

“And we’ve had it confirmed that Manitobans feel the same way,” he said. “Two-thirds see at least half the carbon tax moved to the municipal level so we can tackle the challenges we’re going to face.”

• Read more: Carbon tax revenue use options pitched at AMM

The central component of Manitoba’s carbon policy is to charge a $25-per-tonne tax on carbon emissions, typically generated from burning fossil fuels.

Having carbon tax revenues returned to local government would help offset the cost of the tax they’ll be paying in carbon taxes themselves, he said, noting that costs to run municipal vehicle fleets and energy use for public buildings will all be subject to these taxes.

“It would reduce the burden it puts on their budget,” he said.

But municipalities need this share of carbon tax revenues to get ready for the impact climate change will have too, he said. Enhanced infrastructure for flood protection and water retention for drought are going to be much needed.

“Water is going to become more prevalent and less prevalent in fairly dramatic fashion,” he said. “We are already seeing those things on the landscape.”

Municipalities are now looking at development plans and undertaking studies as to what they will need to be ready, he added. Improved public transportation is another component of readiness infrastructure being discussed because costs associated with all forms of transportation are about to become more expensive.

“That will be a challenge for municipalities,” he said.

“At the same time having an efficient public transportation system is going to be important so that people can move around easily, quickly and efficiently and with less effect on the environment as well as on their pocketbooks.”

The poll, conducted between Nov. 23 and Dec. 14, 2017, found 11 per cent of respondents want all of the carbon tax to go to the municipalities, 20 per cent say most should be, and 36 per cent call for about half to be shared.

Seventy-four per cent of rural residents polled said half should go to municipalities while 64 per cent of Winnipeggers said that amount should be allocated.

Goertzen said an agreement going forward to share these revenues with municipalities would represent an enhanced provincial-municipal partnership for a greener, more climate-resilient province.

The Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) has asserted that the best overall way to reduce emissions is to scale up local green innovation with Canadian municipalities now influencing half of all carbon emissions.

Later this month Manitoba’s municipal leaders will gather in Brandon to talk about current climate variability and the challenges ahead related to land use planning and watershed management.

The province is expected to release more details of its climate and green plan, including how it will use carbon revenue in the near future.

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That formula is under discussion as the federal government rolls out its new Investing in Canada infrastructure program.

Budget 2017 announced a second phase for federal infrastructure spending with the federal government prepared to put in 40 per cent.

Municipal leaders here are asking for a cost-sharing formula whereby the province would contribute another 40 per cent of costs for projects, leaving local government to come up with the other 20 per cent.

That 40 per cent is needed to leverage the investment the feds are making in Investing in Canada, worth $81 billion over the next dozen years, said Association of Manitoba Municipalities president Chris Goertzen, who is also mayor of Steinbach.

A 40-40-20 forumla is what the Federation of Canadian Municipalities has recommended across all provinces. AMM thinks it is a fair division of the costs, given local government’s limited ability to come up with larger percentages, Goertzen said.

Municipalities still collect less than 10 cents of every tax dollar yet have over 60 per cent of public infrastructure on their tab, Goertzen said.

“The ramifications of not receiving 40 per cent cost sharing or close to it from our provincial government is that money will be left on the table,” he said.

“The result will be a real missed opportunity for Manitoba and municipalities.”

The matter was highlighted in a resolution put forward by the Municipality of Russell-Binscarth at AMM’s convention.

They’d originally asked for 33 per cent from the province but amended it to propose the 40-40-20 split, said Cheryl Kingdon-Chartier, deputy mayor of Russell-Binscarth.

This formula is key to seeing many projects go forward, she said. It’s very difficult for local governments with limited means to come up with larger amounts, she said.

Dividing the costs equally among all three levels of government would be an undue burden and not reflect their ability to pay.

“Costs and need for new and improved infrastructure continue to rise placing considerable stress on municipalities regardless of their size and scope,” she said.

“A cost-sharing formula that’s constant and stable would allow much more effective planning and budgeting,” she said.

The matter was top priority last month when municipal leaders with the Federation of Canadian Municipalities Rural Forum converged on Ottawa and met with federal leaders about the costs to maintain infrastructure in rural Canada.

“We’re ready to build better roads and waste water systems, and to boost our quality of life, but this plan will need to recognize small-community realities,” said FCM Rural Forum chair Ray Orb in a news release.

Fair cost sharing and streamlined project administration are keys to moving many of these projects forward, Orb said.

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The Southwest Regional Development Corporation (SRDC) met in Brandon April 6 for its annual conference.

The organization is still recovering from funding cuts in 2012, when the provincial government cut off funds to seven rural and northern development corporations.

The result, according to SRDC president Jon Lewis, was a restructuring of the organization, pulling back on granting and a refocus on two projects, succession planning awareness and a rural innovation initiative.

“Innovation was the toughest because we didn’t know where we were actually going to go with it,” Lewis said.

• Read more: Research hopes to bolster rural agri-food business

The SRDC has delved into zero-waste management, which it says will lower costs for municipalities that are currently transporting their waste to landfills.

The SRDC, partnering with Celtic Power and Machining, hopes to implement a pilot project on waste gasification, reducing solid waste to synthetic gas using temperatures in excess of 700 C. Gas may then also be run through a turbine to generate electricity.

The SRDC has argued this will significantly decrease waste volumes and the ash, metal and glass resulting in the process may be recycled.

The project went before the Federation of Canadian Municipalities April 6, which will determine whether it received funding to move forward.

Population and opportunity

According to the 2016 census, the population of southwest Manitoba increased from 2011-16, but was eclipsed by Brandon’s 6.1 per cent growth and Neepawa’s 27 per cent increase, although other communities and municipalities showed “moderate changes in population.”

Population in the RM of Two Borders decreased 10.3 per cent, while the RM of Brokenhead increased by 10.5 per cent and other regions, such as the (now amalgamated) RM of Minto-Odanah, Cornwallis, Souris-Glenwood, and North Cypress-Langford ranged between flat and five per cent growth.

Despite overall numbers however, Lewis says the SRDC remains concerned about the bleed of people and businesses toward urban centres and what he says is a persistent attitude building urban centres up as an environment of success at the expense of smaller towns.

“My small community I came back to had everything when I was growing up. Now we’re down to a quarter of the businesses there because everyone (thinks), ‘Oh, it’s better to go elsewhere.’ We didn’t have the foresight to say, how do we keep those businesses here? How do we make them viable?” he said.

The challenges resonate with Lynn Hennigar, a conference speaker who is a member of NOW Lunenburg County, a group promoting development in their region with a population of 48,000 in rural Nova Scotia. Hennigar says population decline, resident apathy and a perceived lack of opportunities are prevalent enemies to her organization’s goals.

Population growth has become the focus of NOW Lunenburg County and the organization hopes to attract 150 new families to the region.

The organization will travel across Canada through July and August this summer to promote the area. Likewise, 42 residents have agreed to be “illuminators,” responsible for connecting newcomers to the community.

“The cross-Canada tour, we started without funding and basically said, ‘We’ll drive the trailer as far as we can drive it based on the support we get, because if we wait until the funding is in place, we are never going to leave,’” Hennigar said.

Perhaps of more interest to the SRDC, given its funding challenges, NOW Lunenburg County does not derive funds from the government, something Hennigar says is largely intentional.

The organization hoped to differentiate itself from the “traditional economic development, provincially funded, group that in our area doesn’t have a huge success rate,” she said.

“They’re not necessarily viewed as innovative. They’re kind of stuck in a very prescribed way of doing things and, much like here, the government has reinvented regional development over and over and over again, so they just get their house in order and start to do something and suddenly the rules all change and whatever they started stops and they have to start again.”

Despite that stance, Hennigar says her group would have appreciated government funds during their first days and would still like to see support for their cross-Canada tour.

The group partnered with the Lunenburg County Community Fund, also a young organization at the time, early in its development. The joint effort provided exposure and direction for the young community fund, Hennigar said, while providing seed money for the development corporation.

The group has also derived funds from private foundations and community donations, but currently holds no legal status, an obstacle for municipal partnerships, which often require a paper trail.

There has been some discussion of becoming a legal entity, Hennigar said, but the group is wary of losing the administration services currently provided for free by the Community Foundation of Nova Scotia.

Lewis said the SRDC also hoped to detach from government funding for its innovation initiative.

“Our problem is that you do that and government regulations and policies could stop you right there, so we thought, OK, we at least need to have support,” he said.

The SRDC has been in contact with the province and gained the support of the Association of Manitoba Municipalities on the project.

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The Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) rolled out its wish list last spring, titled A Roadmap for Strong Cities and Communities, which identified the key needs and issues facing local government across the country.

“We want to live and raise our families in vibrant and healthy communities,” said the online document calling for a new federal partnership to create livable, safe and environmentally sustainable communities.

Online documents include A Roadmap for Strong Cities and Communities, which lays out the need for local economic development, improvements to make towns and cities more environmentally sustainable.

An accompanying document is an “Action Plan for a Strong Rural Canada” which highlights the particularly pressing needs of communities outside the country’s largest urban centres.

The top issue cited is the need for dedicated funding for core rural infrastructure to help smaller communities provide essential services, such as roads, water systems and broadband infrastructure that can’t be delivered by local tax revenues alone.

Other needs include more supports to expand affordable housing and a call for more investment in disaster mitigation and emergency preparedness. There has been a dramatic rise in weather-related emergencies across the country and “rural municipalities, in particular, need support… to address the most vulnerable aspects of their infrastructure, while protecting their populations,” the document says.

There are also calls for federal government to work more directly with local governments in rural Canada to attract trade and investment and calls for expanding affordable housing which, in turn, will help smaller communities both attract and retain their populations.

As the final days of the campaign loom, the push now is to get every candidate running to make municipal issues a priority, FCM president Raymond Louie stated in a recent media release.

The FCM website has developed an online “election tool kit” — found at hometownproud.fcm.ca — that includes a policy tracker on where each of the federal parties stand on municipal issues, a “candidate look-up” to see if individual candidates have signed a pledge on municipal issues, plus questions it is urging Canadians to ask of their candidates coming to the door, or all candidates debates.

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Strengthening Canada’s Hometowns — A Roadmap for Strong Cities and Communities lays out a plan that would guide federal government in being a partner to create local jobs and spur economic growth while building livable, safe and environmentally sustainable communities, an FCM news release said.

“This is a guide for Canadians to the upcoming federal election,” said FCM president Raymond Louie in a news release.

It will be useful as a guide to compare how federal parties’ election promises stack up, he said.

“Compare federal party platforms to see which party will be the best partner for their community and improve quality of life in their hometown,” he said in a release.

The document will help Canadians raise questions of those vying for election such as who has the best plan to create local jobs, and help them decide which party will work to solve the housing crunch, the document says.

The road map was put together after extensive consultation across Canada where Canadians shared their ideas for what will make life in both smaller towns and larger cities better, and identifies key areas where greater focus and investment are needed.

Basic needs for good housing and clean water “should not be an issue in a country like ours,” the document says, adding that safer roads, improved public transport and public safety are also top priorities.

The road map also calls for increased investment in clean energy, more energy-efficient building construction and improved public transportation systems, noting that Canada’s best hope for lessening dependency on fossil fuels lies with increased investment in the infrastructure of Canada’s cities and towns, the document says.

The document was launched at a municipal leaders’ convention in Edmonton earlier this month where all three federal parties pitched their platforms to mayors and municipal leaders from across Canada. The FCM has called for a national leaders’ debate on municipal issues. As of this week three of four federal parties, including the New Democratic Party of Canada, The Liberal Party of Canada and the Green Party of Canada have all agreed to participate.

The FCM is the national voice of municipal government. In leading the municipal movement, FCM works to align federal and local priorities, recognizing that strong hometowns make for a strong Canada.

A pdf copy of Strengthening Canada’s Hometowns can be downloaded here.

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Sixty-four per cent told Probe Research, in a poll conducted for the Association of Manitoba Municipalities, they support that idea.

That’s a jump of support by 10 per cent from 2008 when the AMM asked the same question at the onset of their push for new municipal revenue streams. Three years ago a poll of 1,000 Manitobans showed just over half (54 per cent) supported the idea.

Given five options for the province to dedicate additional revenues from the provincial sales tax (PST) to a specific purpose, 44 per cent indicated they would dedicate these funds to community infrastructure improvement. That’s higher than the 27 per cent in favour of dedicating it to health care or 11 per cent wanting it to go to education. Manitobans age 55 or older are the most favourable to a municipal sales tax (74 per cent) versus those aged 18-34 (56 per cent). Women (36 per cent) are less likely than men (52 per cent) to favour infrastructure over other priorities.

Overall, nine in 10 respondents agreed with the statement, “Our communities need help.”

AMM president Doug Dobrowolski said the results show Manitobans now understand the fiscal bind faced by local government.

“This survey just reinforces what we already believed — most Manitobans will support additional revenue for municipalities if the funds raised go directly to an area of great need. That area is infrastructure.”

The AMM’s call for new revenue streams was the focus of its Putting Communities First campaign in the leadup to last October’s election when AMM held meetings with municipal leaders and other community representatives across the province to talk and list specifics on infrastructure needs. Over half of all towns listed streets and roads repairs and water infrastructure as top priorities, with deteriorating sidewalks, playgrounds in need of upgrades and halls in need upgrades and repairs as other major concerns.

The AMM has calculated a dedicated tax would generate about $240 million in additional revenues which the province’s 197 municipalities could then share through per capita distribution. The province’s estimated infrastructure deficit is at $11 billion, or $10,000 for every Manitoban.

In a recent op-ed piece, Dobrowolski cited Federation of Canadian Municipalities’ calculations that showing for every $1 spent on infrastructure, the federal, provincial and territorial governments received 35 cents through new income and sales tax.

“In other words, infrastructure spending is not a drain. It is an investment that will help communities,” he said. Premier Greg Selinger told delegates at the AMM Annual Convention in November that he would not consider a municipal sales tax. AMM will hold its annual mayors’ and reeves’ meetings in March.

The survey was conducted among the Probe Research Online Panel between November 14 and 21 last year with 657 persons, or 24 per cent of those approached, responding. As per guidelines established by the Marketing Intelligence and Research Association (MirA) no margin of error is given for this online survey.

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The municipalities will use the funds to develop action plans to conserve energy through municipal services. That could involve redesigning municipal buildings for energy efficiency, converting to geothermal heating or simply switching to low-energy light bulbs, municipal officials said.

The 12 municipalities are Brandon, Thompson, Winkler, Morden, Virden; the villages of St. Pierre-Jolys and Notre Dame de Lourdes; and the rural municipalities of Tache, De Salaberry, St. Laurent, Stanley and Thompson.

The money comes from the $550-million Green Municipal Fund sponsored by the federal government and the Federation of Canadian Municipalities. FCM announced the grants March 16.

The municipalities, led by the City of Thompson, are partnering through the Association of Manitoba Municipalities to complete the Partners for Climate Protection (PCP) program.

PCP is a network of Canadian municipal governments committed to reducing greenhouse gases and acting on climate change.

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“The fact that these lawsuits can occur goes against what municipal councillors are there for.”

– STU BRIESE, MEMBER OF THE LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY

Should municipal councillors, reeves and mayors have legal protection if someone tries to sue for something said during council meetings?

Last fall at the Association of Manitoba Municipal convention a resolution passed calling for a legal defence against defamation claims to be extended to local government.

This spring Member of the Legislative Assembly Stu Briese (C -Ste. Rose), raised the matter again through a private members’ bill, Bill 230, which called for an amendment to the Municipal Act and the City of Winnipeg Charter.

“The fact that these lawsuits can occur goes against what municipal councillors are there for,” said Briese during a debate in the legislature May 13.

In an interview, he said councillors, reeves and mayors should have some immunity against vexatious suits that are occasionally launched for things “taken out of context” at meetings.

“It saves you harm from some frivolous comment that you might make in a council meeting, maybe in the heat of debate, from litigation,” he said, adding that suits take up time and money. Fear of getting sued is also what tends to drive councils in-camera.

Briese added that it may also make otherwise good potential candidates wary of running for office.

For now, Bill 230 goes nowhere. A debate in the Manitoba legislature May 13 ended without a vote.

Minister of Local Government Ron Lemieux said while his government is “sympathetic to the intent” of Bill 230, there are “intractable reasons” why it can’t go forward.

The parliamentary system cannot be forcefully transplanted into the municipal setting “as per more than 300 years of precedent,” Lemieux said speaking in the legislature last month.

He pointed out that the particularities of the parliamentary system balancing the freedom to speak are missing at the municipal level. “These include parties and thus party discipline, a fair and unaligned Speaker and a comprehensive verbatim of all words spoken in Hansard,” said Lemieux.

“Even though we have the privileges we have inside this chamber, we are not allowed just to say anything and everything and slander anyone we wish,” he said.

Lemieux added that the problem is not as big as Bill 230 supporters would make it out to be. Very few councillors are sued, because they understand they cannot just say and do whatever they want, he said.

But many councillors are nervous about this, says AMM president Doug Dobrowolski, adding that the issue was sparked by a lawsuit launched against two municipal councillors in the City of Portage la Prairie for a remark made at a public meeting. The matter is still before the courts.

“I think it’s going to force more councils to have more in-camera sessions,” he said.

According to a legal consultant with the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM), the defence of “absolute privilege” as a rule does not extend to municipal councils because these bodies are not considered, under common law, as being of the same nature as the provincial legislatures or Parliament.

Municipal councils do not derive their authority from the Constitution but rather from a number of provincial statutes and are therefore not covered by the defence.

Municipal leaders are not personally or financially liable for legal costs of a claim against them, however. The Municipal Act requires that municipalities cover those.

In an interview Briese said he may introduce another version of Bill 230 at some point in future.

“At least we’ve raised the issue,” he said.

lorraine@fbcpublishing.com

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“If we can prove this works in fact rather than theory, it will benefit all municipalities.”

– TOWN OF VIRDEN MAYOR BRUCE DUNNING

World leaders returning from Copenhagen last month will submit plans by January’s end on how their countries will commit to lowering greenhouse gas emissions by 2020.

But national and provincial governments won’t achieve their emissions targets alone.

Manitoba, which has already set a goal of 20 per cent reduction over the next four years, is looking to local municipal leaders for help.

Last spring, it rolled out the Community Led Emissions Reduction pilot program, with 14 towns and rural municipalities agreeing to participate. The program provides resources to local government to do an inventory of GHG emissions and prepare action plans.

Communities are now doing those inventories and looking at strategies that range from recovering landfill gases to water-use reduction strategies and building more walking and biking paths through communities.

TROUBLE SPOTS

Virden, which is included in the project has its own goal of a 20 per cent lowering of GHGs in its community, said Mayor Bruce Dunning. They are preparing an action plan to roll out in March.

What they know right now is that there’s many trouble spots – from their energy-gobbling older street lights to poorly heated older buildings in town. They also know they need to build more non-motorized corridors through their community. Their new development plan will incorporate more green space, Dunning said.

“Some of the areas that we’re looking at targeting are converting to alternative fuels and geothermal at our facilities,” he said. “We also want to enhance our non-motorized walking corridors.”

Their town is also looking at water-use reduction incentives and strategies including providing incentives for residents to switch to dual-flush toilets and low-flow shower heads and working on public education strategies to reduce habits like vehicle idling.

Finding the resources to do all these things is the biggest challenge ahead, Dunning said. If they can, and then demonstrate the lowered costs on municipal operating budgets through GHG reduction strategies, other municipalities will follow suit, he said.

“If we can prove this works in fact rather than theory, it will benefit all municipalities,” Dunning said.

REDUCTIONS

On the eve of the Copenhagen summit last month, the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) released a report showing GHG emissions reductions will be most effectively achieved through federal help extended to municipalities for cost-effective, community-based projects.

Entitled Act Locally – The Municipal Role in Fighting Climate Change, the report says municipalities will play a fundamental role in reaching GHG targets, given their indirect or direction control over transportation, land use and waste management activities which presently account for 44 per cent of all GHG emissions in Canada.

The report says municipal-level actions could collectively result in emissions reductions of anywhere from 15 to 40 per cent of Canada’s emissions targets and says local government is best positioned to engage households and businesses in achieving that goal.

Without any municipal action taken, the report says emissions under municipal jurisdiction are projected to actually rise by an additional 23 per cent to 2020.

The FCM report says resources extended to municipalities for help implementing GHG reduction targets would achieve two-thirds of GHG reductions for less than $25 per tonne, or less than the average cost of regulating industry or developing renewable energy.

lorraine@fbcpublishing.com

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