North Bay City Council did not declare a climate emergency last night.

A motion was put forward at the meeting by Councillor Scott Robertson.

But fellow councillor Tanya Vrebosch put forward an amendment eliminating that part of the motion.

Robertson was disappointed with the 8-3 vote in favor of the amendment.

“The intent of the motion was to join a movement of over 500 municipalities who have declared climate emergencies and that was explicitly removed from the motion,” he says.

The amendment was brought forward after several presenters supported Robertson’s motion and they were frustrated with council’s decision.

Several left the chambers in a huff.

Peggy Walsh Craig of Nipissing Environmental Watch says council had a motion to shine.

“We wanted to believe our council was ready to acknowledge an emergency. But the vote shows council isn’t ready to declare a climate emergency,” she says.

Brennain Lloyd of Northwatch says council missed an opportunity.

“I don’t see any value added from the amendment but I see value lost in removing the word and not declaring a climate emergency,” Lloyd says.

Vrebosch says we are in a climate crisis and it’s a major issue and the city must respond to it.

“If we don’t act on it it will become an emergency. Yes, we took the word out but we’ve also added to the motion by including climate change in the 2020 budget deliberations. We should be talking about this more,” Vrebosch says.

(photo by station staff)

Filed under: climate change, emergency, Scott Robertson, Tanya Vrebosch