Planning, Environment and Water Advisory Committee

0:02This land is held as treaty lands and territory of the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation.

0:09Welfly is directly adjacent to the Hall of Entrath and is part of the long-established

0:14traditional ending ground for the six nations of the Grand River.

0:18Many nations in the U.N. and Métis peoples who have come across Turtle Island caught

0:22Welfly today.

0:27With that disclosure of any human interests or general and general nature thereof, seeing

0:37none.

0:39Thumbs down from Forest.

0:41Thank you.

0:43For a little minutes.

0:45Everybody's received their minutes.

0:47Any errors or missions or questions?

0:52Seeing none.

0:53Would someone like to move it?

0:54Forest I think is moving it.

0:56Oh, is that a question or go ahead Forest.

0:59You're muted I think.

1:10Yeah, so I think you had the word adjourned to the end of the minutes.

1:14And then I moved them approved.

1:16Move that the meeting then it doesn't say what.

1:26Sorry, you're talking about the minutes from the last meeting.

1:29Yeah.

1:30It was moved by member Mayberry and seconded by Cheyenne.

1:36But the motion doesn't have the word adjourn in it.

1:39That's okay.

1:48But pretty clear that's what it was doing but that's okay.

1:51I think we're moving it.

1:53So item is item six.

1:55It's adjournment and it was moved and seconded.

1:59So I think we're okay.

2:02Okay.

2:05Any other questions or comments?

2:07Seeing none.

2:08Would someone like to move acceptance of the minutes?

2:11Is that that's a move to accept?

2:13Thank you for it.

2:14Seconder.

2:15Thank you.

2:16All in favor.

2:23Any opposed.

2:24Okay.

2:25Of course you got some.

2:27Yeah.

2:28Okay.

2:29Committee items.

2:30So really we have one item on the formal part of the agenda

2:34tonight.

2:35And that's energy equity initiative update presentation by Brian.

2:39So please take it away, Brian.

2:41Okay.

2:42I'll join me.

2:44I can share it.

2:45It's all good.

2:46Okay.

2:47Yeah.

2:48So just wanted to come to the group.

2:51Sure.

2:52The energy action.

2:53Sorry.

2:54The energy equity work that we're doing.

2:57And really just.

2:59Again, sure.

3:00Sure.

3:01And update.

3:02Sure.

3:03Some of the findings that we have and then just really open it up for

3:06conversation discussion and.

3:08And just seeking feedback.

3:10And then we'll get back to the next item.

3:12So the city of Guelph is part of the global covenant of mayors.

3:19Actually mayor Guthrie is just about ending his term as the board

3:25member that represents North America.

3:28On this global initiative.

3:30It brings a bunch of cities together across the world that looks at

3:34the global economy.

3:36And then we'll get back to the next item.

3:39And then a series of cities together across the world that looks at

3:43things like emissions reduction.

3:46And climate change.

3:49And then so there's another sorry, they've added on an adaptation

3:53actions as well.

3:54And then recently they have pushed cities to look at energy

3:58poverty is the term that they use.

4:02And really having to have cities think about.

4:08how we give equitable access to energy across the different communities,

4:15but it really stops there.

4:17And so that prompted the team to really look at energy equity within our program,

4:30and to really think about what it means for wealth, really define that,

4:36and then see about what actions would come about as well as we address that.

4:44And the other side of it too, some of you may know or I mentioned in another advisory community

4:54meetings, advisory community meetings was the Gwaltz-Grener Homes work that we're doing.

5:00So a portion of that is loans, zero interest loans to community members to do energy retrofits,

5:07but there's also a grant portion of that too, where it's income eligible, focused on

5:11income eligible households. And the design of that really was based on conversation of,

5:21how do we again, open up access to others in wealth that people can participate in

5:30the whole sustainability side of things, and how do we use this money that FCM is

5:37being so gracious to grant us with, how do we get that invested into the community in a

5:44pragmatic and effective way. And so that's where we had designed it specifically in the first

5:51municipality to do so, a very focused income eligible

5:58allotment and looking at reducing emissions quickly through heat pumps and paying for

6:08the entirety of the heat pump essentially. But when we were going through that, there's a lot of,

6:14and we knew this, but we didn't know how much, but there would be a lot more

6:19considerations, I guess, and how we deploy that program, how do we message that program,

6:24it, although that there's money out there, we were observing that the uptake of that portion

6:34of the program was a little bit more restricted or slower than the loan program, and really spoke

6:41to that access side of things. And so that really fed into, more into looking at this energy equity

6:50side of things and that access issue. Next slide, Liz. So energy and equity, there's a lot of,

7:02like it's said a fair bit, but like in terms of meaning and kind of the why. So we have energy

7:10and equity, and the way that we're defining this though is, is, you know, when households just,

7:15you know, they can't access enough energy for their day-to-day livelihoods and that well-being at home.

7:24So we know that climate change is among us and higher temperatures and heat waves are more prevalent,

7:33similarly with extreme cold as well. But then also the stretching of budgets and the affordability

7:39side of things. So looking at the utility expenses and being able to afford to do those

7:48essential things. So even going about, you know, the well-being in your home to be able to study

7:56and how that has impact in your education and investing in your future or our children's futures.

8:03So things like that kind of come into play. And then looking at the health and well-being

8:07impacts side of it too, researchers showing that there are impacts to respiratory and

8:16cardiovascular illness, you know, as you have their quality concerns. Maybe there are mold issues in

8:23the home brought on because of an ineffective FHPAC system or the energy that's not effectively or

8:32essentially being used appropriately or not being able to afford that energy to run those systems.

8:38Mental health as well. You know, there were cases where people would not,

8:46they would feel shame to not invite people to their home because they didn't have the ability to

8:51have it as a comfortable place and invite guests over. And so then you become more isolated socially.

8:59And then as we were talking about that vulnerability to climate change,

9:03last summer we saw how hot it is. Every summer seems to set new records. We saw the heat dome.

9:11I mean, this is even a few years back, the heat dome out in BC and how that really impacted things.

9:18So looking at it from that perspective too. So a lot of the factors that come in and

9:24contribute to the energy and equity issue is the housing conditions. So how tight is that

9:36envelope? How well are they insulated? Even the HVAC systems in itself, that ability to or inability

9:44to afford increasing energy rates. But then it's heightened as like if you have a

9:55leaky sieve of a house from an envelope perspective, you're just putting in not much more energy to

10:00run your HVAC systems to heat your house. And then as we get into the other side of it, the systemic

10:08marginalization too. So other social impacts that are affecting and that speaks to a lot of those

10:15access to information and access to programs. We see that in certain populations in the community.

10:23Examples, older adults, renters, indigenous peoples and racialized communities.

10:29So the size of the problem within Guelph and I'm going to caveat this is that the data is very,

10:42at a high level, there is some data available, but it is very hard to get into even further and

10:48further detailed resolution on things. The numbers that are our project team, and I'll speak to that

10:55a little bit further is about 4,000 or nearly 5,000 households in Guelph. And using a common

11:03definition of high energy burden is paying more than 6% of their after tax income.

11:11So that works out to be about 10% of households across Guelph are paying more than 6% of their

11:17after tax income towards energy costs alone. But when we start looking at particular

11:25neighborhoods and zones within Guelph, you see that concentration

11:31of that energy burden even more. So we start seeing even up to 43% of households in certain

11:39pockets Guelph. So you can see about that distribution of wealth across the community.

11:47When we start thinking about it, we're seeing this a lot now with the craziness that's going on,

11:53but when you start thinking about vehicle fuels, it just gets that much more worse. So just

12:00addressing that the 4,000 number, the 10% number, those are based on just energy for the households.

12:10And then this is where a lot of the data gets a little foggy because

12:16that renter data is not known. And the energy usage, the rental units spend for operating

12:24their homes, depending on the lease agreements and whatnot. It can be part of that or separated out.

12:33But some of the data that we've been finding is that an additional 12,000 homes

12:39are experiencing this vulnerability and energy. Next slide please. So

12:51as we were saying about, as I was saying earlier about what kind of kicked this off,

12:56some of those things that were kind of brewing along within the energy work at the city of Guelph.

13:03We also have a partnership with Guelph Labs, which is, I'm fully sure what they are, but

13:10they're connected with the University of Guelph. And they're looking for the term

13:17the term community-engaged scholarship, really finding partnerships on addressing those hairy

13:22problems and bringing research and, say, the municipality to really kind of tackle and

13:29define some of these things. So a great opportunity came up having conversations with Guelph Labs.

13:36They put together a research team with researchers from the University of Guelph as well as the University

13:41of Toronto. The Energy and Climate Change team kind of come together and we formed that core

13:46team that have been kind of moving this project work along. Through the work, we've been having a

13:53lot of engagement in workshops, a series of workshop sessions, where there's been some

13:58really good contributions from people in the community. So we've had several sessions with the

14:04same, and we call them our working team. It's about maybe eight individuals

14:16after doing surveys and we signed them up to be that voice for people with lived experience that are

14:25in different household situations that are experiencing home that home energy burden.

14:35And then on the other side of it, we've also had several working sessions with

14:42a group that was consistent with government agencies. So, say, ourselves, the City of Guelph and

14:47others in the City of Guelph departments, the county. We've had Wellington, Duffer and Guelph public

14:54health attend. We've also had other community organizations, so Legal Aid. What is their

15:04new name called? Guelph Wellington, Poverty Collaborative. Plan Egg, Sunbeam Community

15:14Development Services, Windham House. So quite a few folks coming from the community organizations

15:20that have been in the merch is also there. And then also the utility companies, representation

15:24from the ISO and Enbridge as they are, and Electra, as they're issuing out a lot of these

15:31home affordability programs, or some of these home affordability programs. And so through those

15:37working groups, we've been hearing and listening to a lot of where the experiences are, where people's

15:43positions, how big is this problem, what they're hearing from the ground, and helping that formulate

15:51what an action plan would look like within Guelph, and really just, again, using that capacity

15:57to form this. So that's the scope of what we've been doing. And the intention is that in June,

16:09we are going to be sharing this action plan, which we'll get into the next slides, but the action

16:14plans that have come out through those engagements, and having council endorse this action plan so

16:23that we can move forward and move on implementing some of these programs. Next slide, please.

16:31So broadly, the action plan is really just looking at what are the interventions that

16:37can help to address this home energy inequity, looking at marginalized households, and how we

16:44can really help support, provide supports for those. Next slide, please. Sorry, if there's any

16:55questions, please feel free to ask too. I know that I'm just kind of blathering on here and just kind

17:00of talking up the top of my head, but just get into some of these action items, if not. I apologize

17:08for the small text. I just wanted to kind of fit some of this in here. So as I mentioned about some

17:17of the programs that have been out there, there's been some low uptake. There's been feedback about

17:24navigating these forms, being able to have the time to invest and looking at being aware of the

17:31programs themselves. So one of the key themes that have come out was developing an energy coach,

17:38essentially a hub where having a resource that can help households really look at the energy,

17:49get a better understanding of energy and their relationship with energy and their own.

17:56It could be things like, hey, how do you set a thermostat or what's the importance of my furnace?

18:00It could be those technical types of things, but also it could be, are you aware of these programs

18:07and helping coach along how to gain access to those programs? So as I was saying with that

18:14both of your homes, slow uptake or relatively slow uptake or say even Enbridge has a winterization

18:25program where they're offering free insulation, really connecting the dots for those households

18:31and helping them kind of, one, be aware, but then also understanding the eligibility and all that

18:36stuff and then helping with getting some of those forms completed and applying for those programs.

18:46Similarly on that too, it's working with the other public organizations that are or community

18:54organizations that are out there. We're hearing from a lot of them that there is a definite need for

18:59this, but where does this reside? The community organizations don't have the resources

19:06to be able to staff somebody for this. Are there ways that we can lean on the city who,

19:13depending on where you look, may have some more resources than others? Are there ways to combine

19:18with utilities? Are there ways to really leverage the strengths that can happen? And then there's

19:23the other side of it too with trust. You have an engaged community and that connection through the

19:32community, through these different community organizations. So that really helps with getting

19:41people to kind of come on board some of these programs and seeing the value as opposed to

19:46having a bureaucrat knock on your door or even thinking of potential fraud that's

19:54becoming more of an issue that's going on too. So really understanding our place

20:01and working to the strengths of how the organizations come together and then help be more

20:06effective with these connections and building that awareness. And I apologize. I'm feeding into

20:13the second one in that being that improving outreach. So it's looking at, again, using that energy

20:21coach as a resource, but also those communication lines, looking at those different strengths and

20:25bringing everybody together to really get more uptake on these programs. A quick comment.

20:38Enbridge does have a program and it's been fairly long-standing. I forget the numbers and I apologize.

20:44I should have had this. But it was, say, it was their expectation of 5,000 households to

20:53participate in a given year. I think they were getting maybe 50. And so you can see that there's

21:00a huge chasm that's in between what programs are designed and their intentions, but the actual

21:09uptake of what's going on. I'm proud to say that the Welkwire homes grant program isn't quite that

21:16big. However, seeing that relatively slower uptake compared to the ones. So definitely a real issue

21:26out there. Next slide, please. Again, bleeding into a bunch of things. And I said about the programs

21:37we can get building on some of our existing programs that the City of Wolf offers, but also

21:44on the utility side of things too. Where we are with the Welkwire homes program is we've seen

21:49some really good success. But how do we build on that? And so we're advocating with FCM

21:57and seeing if there are ways to look at resilience and bringing that in as measures.

22:05But then also if there's a way to

22:10streamline the way that we can get funding for these programs to capitalize the retrofits and

22:16the loans that are going to these households. The one thing that we were hearing back to is

22:23is they are appreciative of that a lot of funds for marginalized groups. We were finding,

22:32have we not had that separation of a grant and a loan? Sorry, an income eligible grant

22:38or a grant and a loan. Everybody had access to that grant. It would be easily and quickly

22:44gobbled up before those that don't have that quick access to programs. I touched on the utility-led

22:52side of things too. So providing the feedback and helping develop their programs further to

23:00bring those two ends together in terms of design intent and natural uptake. Next slide, please.

23:15Looking at policy side of things and looking at renters. This was a really big thing that I'd come

23:20across too. So the rental communities I mentioned and as we were seeing through the data, not having

23:26all that available, how do we support this? Well, another part of the city is looking at

23:40bringing forward this renovation bylaw. There is a lot of support within the collaborators,

23:47the community groups, seeing this as a positive step forward. So seeing this body of work,

23:53the energy equity body of work to be also supportive in the city advancing that policy.

24:04But the other one was the maximum heat bylaw. So we currently have property standards and there are

24:12minimum temperature bylaws in terms of the maximum heat bylaw and looking at heat stress and all

24:21that. What are some of the mechanisms that we can pull there? The new Westminster

24:28was the recently had released their maximum heat bylaw, the new Westminster and BC. I know that

24:34other municipalities like Toronto and Miss Saga have been exploring it quite heavily.

24:43And so how does Guelph see this as an option to mitigate the impact of heat waves and so exploring

24:57this and looking at how we can factor this into our bylaws? And then that bottom bullet there,

25:06so other stakeholders are very supportive of this too and are willing to provide some information.

25:11And how to prepare that bylaw and expect this. And then finally, on the monitoring reporting,

25:25so I mentioned about the global community of mayors. So as part of that, as they've introduced

25:33this pillar that we would be reporting through that and then also as we're reporting to the

25:41community as well in terms of progress on this action plan and how things are moving along.

25:47And then also using the data to help inform further how we're, you know, as new programs come

25:53along or as this energy coach gets put into place. Are there certain areas of the neighbourhood or

26:00certain neighbourhoods that we can target or message things accordingly? Having that involved,

26:10but keeping everything kind of informed through data. And that's my bid on this. I guess what I'm

26:21looking for from the group is really just open conversation questions, anything we are, as I

26:28mentioned, preparing to go to council and presenting this June. So happy to bring back a lot of the

26:35insights with our group and we can factor that in as we're putting together our

26:43documentation for council. Okay. Thanks for your presentation, Brian.

26:51Any questions from committee members? Comments for them? I think I see forest. Yes. Thanks, Brian.

27:11When I first read your slides in the package, first thought I had was, energy and equity

27:20was kind of a odd title, I thought. Initially I went to utilities and I said, no,

27:28it does nothing to do with water. And I went to heating and cooling inequity.

27:33So I think that's really what you're addressing. But I understood from your presentation that

27:40it's you're pegging back on others cities and other initiatives where it's titled energy and

27:46equity. So I withdraw my comment, but I provide it anyways.

27:54So yeah, I guess the end all title is going to be advancing energy equity in wealth.

28:02Yeah. Really what you're doing is dealing with heating and cooling.

28:08Heating and cooling, but yeah, there is that affordability side of things. There is the access to

28:14being able to participate in the climate action. In a way, I recognize my privilege to be able to

28:23put solar panels on my roof. But not everybody can do that. And that in itself is an affordability

28:30play as it offsets electricity costs. So that access issue. It's interesting. I think the

28:41cooling temperature, setting a limit is going to drive your initiative.

28:47It is a key. What struck me when I looked at your numbers,

28:51like three times as many people are renting are in trouble as opposed to people living in homes.

28:57And that's a big issue. And the only way you're going to get those people's attention is to

29:02legislate. That's my thought. And then just to share with you, that is a real tough,

29:12like tough nut to crack. How do we work with programs? So say there is a program to participate in

29:24and we do want to offer this out to renters. How does this work now if they are to do adjustments to

29:32the property that they don't own? And how does this come into play? And so there are

29:38mechanisms right now where it's like, okay, talk to your landlord and go ahead. Oh, but what about

29:43the unintended consequence of if somebody, the landlord says, okay, we want to take advantage

29:47of this program and change up the furnace, put in the HEPA. Oh, guess what? This will trigger

29:52rent eviction and see you later, buddy. And so all those aspects have to also be thought about too

29:59without relationship because the affordability of housing overall and it being in such a tenuous

30:06spot too. So yeah, it's a tough one. Laura? Yeah. Thank you. The maximum heat bylaw was an

30:19interesting one. And I'm curious to like know if they've done this, you said it was in New Westminster.

30:25Like how this was actually enforced or like what requirements were in there because I could

30:32just see it being sort of a conflict where like is it that the owners of the building, if it's a

30:40rental unit, like they would have to like what specific things would they be on the hook for

30:46doing like maintaining a steel building envelope? Because they could do that, that might be more

30:52expensive. And so maybe like what would the alternative be like providing cooling systems

31:00like here's an air conditioner but you have to pay the utility bill, the renters might be able to

31:04for that. So it's like putting the cost back on them. So is there a way of like using some of these

31:09incentives that we're talking about like the energy rebate program to incentivize like the

31:17owners of the buildings that they're not living there and maybe there's like renters to help cover

31:25some of these things that they would need to be for heat bylaw? That's kind of multiple questions

31:28that it just opens a lot of questions in my head about how you would actually use it some

31:32questions. And that's the thing though right is that dynamic of like all these different situations

31:38different relationships to that household and how does that trigger. So I heard how do you enforce it.

31:45So we have seen well if we do have a bit of heat temperature bylaw through our property standards.

31:52How well it gets policed. I can't speak to that. I and we have spoken to our our GM of operations

32:04which bylaw comes under and they do recognize that this is a challenge. However, and maybe it is

32:14complaints based at least it is something where a ranger can at least say something and that there

32:21is a policy where there is a standard. In terms of what does it look like in terms of actions.

32:34Maybe it is at cooling mechanical cooling systems are provided. Maybe it is looking at

32:41a more holistic house system or building system which will get very challenging. We recognize that

32:49and that's where it isn't just a quick slap. Okay, let's just go Russian to do a

32:55UMX heat bylaw. We have to factor these things and consider them. The cost

33:05there will be a cost application method. If we are pushing folks to do to

33:13landlords to purchase mechanical cooling systems, air conditioners for that matter.

33:20Absolutely. Are there ways that can be done more efficiently?

33:24And so say it is through a welfare interholms program where they are getting a low interest

33:30or zero interest loan to do that and we've had a lot of registers to that and then oh at the same

33:36time you are doing this emissions reduction by three doing a heat pump as opposed to just an

33:41air conditioner or a furnace. It is a challenge and it is tough so there is a bit of carrot and

33:48stick and it is finding that balance I don't really know. Anecdotally, actually I was talking to

33:57my wife's cousin and they are buying a house out in Pickering and I know this isn't talking to the

34:02rental side. Actually this is a fairly big house too. But it was just looking at what they are

34:07getting as they are building a new house. It is coming standard with a heat pump,

34:12with air conditioning. And so I remember when I bought my place back in 2008,

34:21you are not getting air conditioning. That is always an add on. At least the new build market

34:27is kind of moving along. Mind you this is a more prominent home builder that is kind of thinking

34:34ahead. So maybe it is not the norm but it is coming along as the market has become more available.

34:44And then are there other programs to support this? So the city runs cooling centers

34:51are there programs that we could be doing as well like air conditioner rentals

34:58or sorry not rentals but loans that we can give out to people that need stress issue or

35:04other programs that the city can look at in helping transition households rental units that way.

35:13I wonder if there is a way though if you are requiring the owner of the building to put in

35:20an air conditioning or cooling system to also test drafts through the windows. This gets more

35:28complicated but you have to have a minimum level of like a maximum heat loss or heat coming in.

35:35Through the windows or like a certain artifact or whatever insulation in order to like just be

35:42able to do air conditioning. And if you don't meet that then air conditioning alone would be

35:46sufficient. You would have to also do upgrades to the insulation or it gets tricky as to like how

35:52do you pay for that but some of these old buildings I guess are really drafting and you are really

35:57not going to get a lot of benefit if you lose all the heat through the windows. So like yeah how

36:06do you kind of couple those two things to make like a minimum standard? Yeah but I mean ultimately

36:12again it is like what's what's pushing this is the health and safety of people within that. So if it is

36:19you know those few weeks that we are getting that to just kind of cut that edge off

36:25and have to take that heat like my energy management art leads a little bit on this. It's like oh you

36:32know we are going to be using lower energy but again if we look at the reason why we're doing that it

36:37is in this emergency case and maybe it becomes that foot in the door to say hey you know landlords

36:47and landlords and property owners are there ways that we can help

36:56suggest other measures that can be done to kind of mitigate that energy cost down but it becomes

37:02tricky when it's oh it's you know it's the rent here it's responsible for the utility bill what do

37:09I care so that that dynamic does keep playing. Oh you have a question? Not a question just a small

37:21oh first off thank you so much Brian this is a great presentation really exciting to see such a

37:26comprehensive and a holistic approach to this work. Also personally very excited to hear about the

37:34exploration of the maximum temp by law. You already talked about all the challenges I'm just

37:44you might already be aware but I'm just posting the open vote. Sorry you might

38:00already be aware but Clean Air no I'm not called Clean Air Partnership anymore. Climate action

38:08they used to be called a Clean Air Partnership. Did a jurisdictional scan that was sort of

38:12cross Canada went to the United States as well looking at what municipalities are

38:17doing on this just in case you hadn't come across that. Oh thanks for sharing awesome

38:28there is a lot of stuff that Climate Action Council Climate Action Partnership

38:32do it's hard to keep track. Sorry I just remember I remember Bo talking to you when you were with

38:44public health and talking about adaptation and heat stress and I still remember that conversation

38:53and that did feed into a lot of this work as well so thank you for that. Very very cool to see it

39:02I'm glad of being fed in through it was something that came out in the climate in Guelphs I forget

39:07exactly what it was called Guelphs Climate Adaptation Plan but it was really wonderful to see it coming

39:11through this energy equity initiative because it's such a good place for it. So Kudos. I have a few

39:26comments I guess in terms of the timeliness of it and the urgency associated with it and there's

39:35El Nino forming in the Pacific as we speak and there's some predictions that the summer

39:41would be the hottest on record. So I mean this gets presented to council I hope that they recognize

39:51the urgency associated with continuing to move forward with it. One of the challenges that you

40:02identified is sort of the outreach side getting the message out to the community and

40:08reaching people who would qualify and who are in dire need of assistance around this equity challenge

40:17and with that in mind I'm thinking and I know you've reached out to a lot of community groups

40:22but don't forget sort of the non-traditional community groups and what I mean by that is

40:28my experience I'm quite involved with St. Vincent Paul and while it's a Catholic organization it's

40:34non-denominational in terms of its outreach and its support and we do house visits with people who

40:40are living below the poverty line to provide them assistance with food and furniture and such.

40:48So like there may be other organizations I'm sure there are other organizations like that

40:53and so once the city has developed some communications material

41:00that you might be able to mobilize these other organizations who

41:05do have a relationship with people in need in the community and certainly people that would fit

41:11within your criteria to just to help sort of get the message out there. Yeah and sometimes

41:18we get sort of painted with the same brush as a bureaucrat would you know even though everything

41:27that we do is based on donations because we're there and we're offering something they think

41:31we must be the government but you know these organizations do have relationships with people

41:37that are in need and so they might be able to provide some assistance and so they over

41:43outreach aspects of your work. I just want to just touch on that so absolutely

41:51I think that was something that was resounding. I've got to do it kind of thing

42:00for that energy coach body work. It isn't just like they are taking this on and you know you're

42:07visiting a house and through the body board that you're doing and you're visiting that house

42:12necessarily it's how do we amplify this and really work with the existing connections that

42:19people already have. So a bit of I hate that term but train the trainer kind of thing but also just

42:27like hey recognize that maybe we're going together and then building on that relationship or it's

42:34hey if you're already making these five house calls like you said here's some communication

42:39stuff and leave a card and make the connection or just just really working together and making

42:47that human side of it as opposed to boy you're that organizing you're that organizing you're

42:51going to do this I'm going to do this we're staying each other's light. So yeah that was something that

42:58I remember Ed Bridges showing up and they're like hey here's our program.

43:04Windham house is like really we can participate we can do this and I know all these other

43:10organizations that would be really interesting doing this and so it's like we want to do these

43:15things and we're just not talking to each other so breaking down those barriers.

43:24The only other thing just to mention just in this example I wondered if

43:27what extent the city has given consideration this the city of Toronto recently announced that

43:32they're going to be providing 1000 portable air conditioners to low-income residents and seniors

43:43those that are living in multi-residential buildings so it's that kind of issue you know given the

43:49significant proportion of the challenge being focused at those who are in rental combinations

43:58being able to provide something at no cost takes some of the pressure and some of the complexity

44:04away I guess at least in terms of the financial burden on the owner and making it that much easier

44:12for the for the renter. Does the city give you any thoughts about that? To be honest I don't think

44:19anybody's really talking about this yet but we recognize that

44:24something's gonna so we can't just turn on a light switch and just be like okay here you go

44:30maximum heat biolog go and then expect also all these landlords just kind of go ahead listen

44:37so measures like that I think will be needed to help with that transition because like you're

44:42saying Del Nino's coming anyways right and so something does have to happen.

44:47So there's a body of work that fortunate for us our GM of of of operations is part of this

45:00association that is actually looking at you guys are getting kind of VIP access to this information

45:09but it'll be coming to council anyways but as part of this association about having to bring

45:15maximum heat biolog to scale from many municipalities and setting it as a standard to kind of go ahead

45:24and so they have it ready and but again it's those tripping points of how we get this transition

45:32to are there other ways to make it affordable the blowback from landlords all that all that stuff

45:38and so they may be they may have some of this these these ideas already in place they can

45:45show that with them to see if there's doing that and looking to bring up ideas like this and saying

45:55city council like what are we going to do with this because the problem's not going away there are

46:01ways that we can intervene earlier on and the bylaws not going to just do itself like it's not

46:09going to do anything by itself right we talked to Elora you know how is this going to be enforced

46:16and so again it's that that balance of yes you have the legislation it takes time to go

46:21towards that what measures do we have to take in place to kind of get us closer to that

46:27so i'll definitely bring that back as uh as something to the factor in this

46:36any further questions or comments from everyone on the committee seeing none

46:49it was porous sorry mr. Forrest go ahead how's my just my comment you know when

46:54with at every political level and for every political party we're all focused on reducing

47:00costs inflation so the the kick here is that the inefficiencies

47:07generate savings which then can offset other costs and so the getting the capital cost out of the way

47:16and there is some efficiencies in what you're up to and that does

47:22support and enforce what people are trying to do across the board not just with energy

47:28was my thought so that i don't know how you could build that into your pitch but that's certainly

47:37the there's one of a number of things that people at that end of the spectrum are having difficulty with

47:45you know if the food bank people the number of people using food banks is just growing every year

47:53and that's not getting any better and this is a measure that tries to offset some of that

47:59by being more efficient okay there's nothing further than we have a recommendation before us

48:13uh the um planning committee planning environment water advisory committee received a presentation

48:18on energy equity finish update um and through you chair i did i did um add some of the committee's

48:28comments too if you want to we can review it or if i if i maybe missed some things but i did add that

48:35that second portion if folks want to um to provide brian with um their comments and written motion um

48:45the conversation today has been great but um it's up to it's the will of the committee as to

48:51whether or not those comments want to be included in a formal motion so um and and please let me know

48:57if i didn't capture certain things appropriately are you guys seeing that i don't what Boris you

49:26got to tell us how are you doing that are you are you joining from an ipad sometimes ipads have

49:33different math books have different um features to it but who put that thumb up

49:41the one that showed up on the screen though yeah i put a thumb up oh just to say that the that looks

49:47good and the conversation has been good and interesting and appreciate that the town

49:54and the city is working towards this as a broader issue so that was my thumbs up just to say all

50:00of that but it's been said so i didn't want to turn on my mic to make you listen to more listening

50:06but yes i had a thumbs up that said go for it thanks Karen okay so everybody comfortable with the

50:16language that uh this is provided for us ryan do you have any issues with what we're put forward

50:25okay no okay thank you for that list yeah no problem um can i get a motion then to uh

50:36move this forward directly move to approve the recommendation as

50:42mended uh there's another thumb coming up there that's Raj okay from the movement

50:50seconder worst i think yeah all in favor be opposed okay thanks Karen thank you very much

51:04bright thank you for all the insight next item on the agenda of chair and staff announcements

51:14i have one question i guess for staff um back in february we dealt with the mcquillan's bridge

51:22and we provided a number of recommendations um that bridge is one element of a much larger project

51:30dealing with victoria road and stone road and i just wondered if anyone could advise us as to

51:36whether or not we're going to get an opportunity to provide comments on that much larger project

51:43lucas hi everybody uh so i believe that is coming to the committee next month or possibly in june

51:51i can reach out to the project manager on that file just to confirm but i do believe it is next

51:57month but yes there either way there will be an opportunity for the committee to learn more about

52:02that project and to provide their comments and insight yeah great as long as it's coming to us i

52:08think uh it'll be considerable interest at it um so look forward to that um i don't have anything

52:16else to ask or comment on does any are there any staff comments to be uh shared with the committee

52:23lucas yes thank you uh so tomorrow number of items going to council planning but one in particular

52:33that this committee has seen before is the downtown community planning permit system

52:39which will be presented for decision so would encourage uh members who are interested to

52:46to watch and participate in in that discussion if they can if they're interested

52:52in addition to municipal news there are a number of provincial news as of late

52:59one in legislation so far so bill 98 which was announced just last week and has moved to second

53:05reading this week number of changes proposed there to planning legislation so would encourage

53:14members to to review the city will also look to provide comments that are provided in the

53:20information items that go out on fridays so again to keep encourage members to keep an eye

53:27peeled for that in addition to the legislation that was announced there are a number of ero postings

53:33again that members can review if they would like and the city will be providing comments on that

53:40again as as an information item and i believe last week's information item contains all of the

53:45consultation alerts so for folks who would like to learn more about what the province is proposing

53:52or what they're doing through the legislation i would encourage members to to review that package

54:03yeah i could just ask a question lukas in terms of uh city providing comments uh on provincial

54:09legislation and so on has the city taken a position on the amalgamation of conservation authorities

54:16i believe we have provided comments on that already and i can i'll look i'll look to uh

54:25kind of dredge those up and i can send them over to liz to pass over to members if they're interested

54:29to see what the city commented on regarding that i certainly appreciate that um i guess i've got a bit

54:37of a vested interest given my background but it's it's pretty major in terms of the implication of

54:43long term in terms of environmental wash i'd conservation across this province so i look

54:48forward to to getting that information thank you any other comments updates i just want to

54:59provide a comment just um it was something that lukas said that uh tuning into some uh council

55:05meetings there is always an opportunity if um something does come to a committee and you provided

55:11advice if ever a chair or a member of the committee um wants to go to council to delegate um representing

55:18the the committee's feedback that's always an that's always an option as well um for the most part staff

55:24when they come and give you a presentation they give you timelines as to when things go to council

55:28there could always be a motion um to uh to um allow for a member to whether the chair um typically

55:37or another member would like to go speak to uh council when that comes there's always that

55:42opportunity so um if ever there's still um delegation dot timelines uh that we need to adhere to so

55:49unfortunately delegating to tomorrow's council meeting wouldn't be an option because that timeline

55:54is closed but in the future if ever there is a um a topic um that has come to the committee that you

56:02feel strongly about um there there's also there's always an opportunity to go and speak on behalf

56:07of the the committee um at a council meeting so just throwing that out there as a reminder we do

56:13we do like to see that um happen and um if ever there's interest in doing that you make that happen

56:20so yeah just just to clarify so that to delegate on behalf of the committee is something I would

56:25have to come through the committee first right yeah yeah usually you'd be going to speak um uh the

56:31comments and council does receive the minutes and um for the most part the motions are included in

56:37those staff reports going to council so you'd be speaking to um the the committee's position on on that

56:44um having when it came to to the committee so uh yes typically it's it's when things come through

56:51the the the committee so that you're representing the right the view of the committee yeah if there's

57:00nothing further um then maybe um someone move a motion to adjourn the meeting our next meeting

57:07for your interest is May 11th that said we have a motion to adjourn Laura secondary

57:18brush all in favor I am any opposed I'd like to stretch out a little longer no okay thanks everyone

57:30thank you everyone thanks see you soon have a good night