Presentation by Christian McEachran Morin to Muskoka District Council, RE the 2026 District budget
INTRO
Hello Everyone,
You may or may not recognize me from my previous delegations.
Regardless, I would like to confirm that I am still a District employee but I am here today as a member of the public to speak on the District’s climate commitment as it relates to the budget.
SOME HISTORY 1
To start, I’ll present some history for context:
2015 was COP21 and Canada set climate goals.
The word “climate” was not mentioned in the District of Muskoka’s 2015 budget.
It was also the hottest year in recorded history by a large margin.
2018 saw the proposal of a Climate Initiatives Coordinator, and served as the baseline GHG inventory against which future mitigation efforts would be measured.
2020 the District declared a climate emergency with goals of 50% GHG reduction by 2030, net 0 by 2050 vs the 2018 baseline.
SOME HISTORY 2
2022 the District implemented a “climate lens” in all its reports and the community transportation division started reporting GHG reductions as a key service indicator.
2024 established the climate change reserve and “climate” was mentioned 14 times in the budget.
2025 saw the proposal of additional corporate climate change positions and “climate” was mentioned 102 times in the budget showing usage of the climate change reserve for climate related activities.
Meanwhile, the 10 hottest years on record were all in the past 10 years, with half of them surpassing 2015’s record-breaking heat by even further margins.
WHAT HAVE WE ACHIEVED?
2018 is the GHG baseline and also saw the service level change for the climate initiatives coordinator, so what have we achieved since then?
Several climate related plans were developed.
There was some action on some of those plans, highlighted in the New Leaf report cards.
More climate related budgetary items (like new positions, equipment, and reserves) were added.
WHERE ARE WE NOW?
So where does that leave us in relation to our goals? Honestly, I have no idea. The only department to show their GHG reduction is community transportation, and I haven’t been able to find out how much GHG’s were offset or reduced by initiatives in other departments.
As I mentioned last year, there are some departments that could and should measure GHG’s as part of their key service indicators, and the 2025 budget included service level changes for corporate climate change positions, to help with advancing, measuring, and reporting on corporate climate change initiatives. Consequently, the existing climate initiatives coordinator role was refocused on community outreach, but no additional staffing resources were dedicated to the community side of things. I’d like to see more resources dedicated to this so we can advance more community initiatives and know what kind of impact we are having since community emissions are a bigger problem than corporate emissions.
Without metrics, I don’t know where we stand in relation to our goals. I can compare the 629,192 TN’s of private vehicle emissions in 2018 to the projected 63.85 TN’s reduced by the community transportation division in 2026, but that does not account for population growth (and resultant growth in private vehicle emissions) nor the increased number of EV’s and hybrid vehicles on the road. From being out on the roads in Bracebridge, I can tell you they look busier than they used to, but there are more electric vehicles than there used to be, though it’s nowhere near half.
With 4 years to go, have we budgeted enough resources to meet our goal of 50% reduction by 2030 for both corporate and community emissions?
WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE?
I mentioned that the Climate Initiatives Coordinator was re-focused on community outreach, and while this is necessary, I believe it is insufficient. Public outreach only furthers the narrative that small changes multiplied by billions of individuals will be what fixes the problem, but that’s a fallacy.
The public is not an organized entity capable of making significant change like this. Muskoka’s experience with solid waste is a prime example. Relying on outreach and information, we had a solid waste system that resulted in inefficient diversion rates, despite individual actions to recycle and compost. Instead of continuing to rely on outreach, the District instituted a clear bag policy and saw a 36% reduction is garbage and 121% increase in organics collected at the curb. This is a clear demonstration that informational efforts alone are insufficient and that the District has the ability to effect even greater change than individuals alone.
Solid waste was only 3% of the 2018 emissions though. Community transportation was 70%, so I’ll ask of you:
Promote a Muskoka that’s less reliant on cars.
- · Budget more for public transit to make it accessible to everyone in Muskoka.
- · Budget for new bikes lanes every time a road needs work.
- · Budget to continue expanding EV infrastructure.
- · Work with the lower tiers to institute car free Sundays in the downtown cores, and hold regular open street events to promote active transportation.
(Blocking cars to turn the Manitoba St & Taylor Rd intersection into a toboggan hill during the fire and ice festival is pretty cool. Maybe you don’t go that big every week, but shaping, not just promoting, but intentionally shaping a healthy active community over a car centric community is paramount to making it through the climate crisis.)
It’s more than just cars though. While private vehicle emissions are the biggest problem, it’s all interconnected, as your land acknowledgement statement pointed out.
A whole community approach must be taken.
- · Make sure you approve high density builds instead of suburban, car reliant sprawl
- · While considering housing, make sure those new builds are required to have EV chargers, heat pumps, and solar panels, if you can.
- · Support retrofitting of existing housing through innovative loans repaid through property taxes.
Corporate emissions are easier to control than community emissions, and they required a few staff positions to advance their efforts. I think the community effort needs more resources than one Climate Initiatives Coordinator, so please hire more.
CLOSING
You wield significant power here, more so than any individual. Much as it hurts me to repeat cheesy quotes, it’s never the less true that with that power comes responsibility.
Mother Nature does not care how well informed your populace is. It only cares how much GHG’s they are producing so please take more intentional, direct action to reduce GHG’s in the community instead of informing the populace and hoping for the best. I would really like to know whether or not we’re going to meet our target in 4 years.
Thank you for hearing me today.
RESOURCES
2018 Baseline –Muskoka Methodology, Baseline & BAP Report _December FINAL
2015 hottest on record – Monthly Climate Reports | Global | December 2015 | National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI)
New Leaf Report Card 2023 – Muskoka – Document Center
New Leaf Report Card 2024 – New Leaf Climate Action Plan Report Card 2024
Curbside metrics – Clear Bags – The District Municipality of Muskoka