Mayor Says Toronto Will be North America’s Greenest City

toronto_bike_rack.jpg

Toronto Mayor David Miller vowed last week to make Toronto "the leading environmental city in North America." The Toronto Star reports:

Mayor David Miller is pledging to slash the city’s greenhouse gas emissions
by 30 per cent by 2020 and a whopping 80 per cent by 2050.

Miller
and city council will unveil a plan today that sets ambitious targets
for reducing emissions that lead to climate change, increasing
so-called green energy usage and encouraging retrofitting of city homes
and businesses to make them more energy efficient.

Miller said the city could levy higher taxes against SUV owners than owners of hybrid vehicles. He has also talked about taxes on parking lots in areas that are well served by public transit, including the downtown core. "You need to make simple changes that encourage people to change their behaviour," he said. "We will be creative, and we will offer creative suggestions to Torontonians. Some will be radical."

Photo: William Self/Flickr

  • Eric

    O Canada! Any chance they’ll annex New York and bring us into the 21st Century?

  • Don’t believe the hype … there is no real political will here to address the real serious issues despite a recent over-whelming second mandate for Mayor Miller. The Bike Master Plan
    has been severly under-funded from the start and
    has no hope of being completed by 2012 as the the Green Plan would have you believe.

    Martin Reis
    Toronto.

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