Monday, June 19, 2006

EcoCouncillor Award to be Presented at World Urban Forum by Minister Diane Finley

The EcoCouncillor Award was established in 2004 by the Gallon Environment Letter to give recognition to an elected council member who has performed outstanding environmental and Sustainable Development service in a neighbourhood, municipality, or First Nation. The outstanding environmental service is to be connected to the person's role as an elected politician and may be in the form of excellence in encouraging adoption of an important environmental policy or program or running an outstanding environmental project. The objective of the award is to encourage environmental excellence and to give recognition for environment and Sustainable Development efforts among municipal politicians.

The award is sponsored by the Gallon Environment Letter, an environmental policy letter with a wide circulation in Canada and internationally. Nominations for the award are made in the Fall of each year and are judged by an independent panel. For the 2005 award the judges were:

      •    Clive Doucet, Councillor, City of Ottawa, Ontario, and winner of the 2004 EcoCouncillor Award.

      •    Beth Johnson, past Mayor of Delta, B.C., past Chair of the Standing Committee on the Environment of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, past Vice-Chair of the Greater Vancouver Regional District, and now a consultant in strategic leadership, sustainable cities and protection of the environment. and

      •    Susan Holtz, a consultant who has been a principal in dozens of projects in the fields of energy, environment and sustainable development. For many years based in Nova Scotia, since 2004 she has served as the Senior Policy Analyst for the Canadian Institute of Environmental Law and Policy in Toronto.

David Alexander, Councillor, City of Welland, is one of two winners for 2005. He will be presented with the EcoCouncillor Award by Hon. Diane Finley, Minister for Human Resources and Social Development and Minister responsible for the World Urban Forum at a reception being held in conjunction with the World Urban Forum in Vancouver. The reception is being held in the Malaspina Room of the Fairmont Waterfront Hotel at 5.00pm on Monday June 19^th 2006.

Mr. Alexander was first elected to the Council of the City of Welland, Ontario, population 47,000, in 2003 on a green community platform. In his two years on Council he has focussed on:

      •    a conservation-based program to convert 12,000 homes to metered water from a flat rate system. From a financial perspective the billing system was overhauled to fund all and only water-related projects within a self-financing, self-sustaining, full-cost recovery utility.

      •    an anti-idling motion for City vehicles. This successful motion also introduced the concept of anti-idling districts that require the need for collaboration amongst other local institutions such as school boards, hospitals, etc.

      •    a needs-based community feedback process, a citizen engagement concept, for development of the municipal budget. Mr. Alexander is currently Budget Chair for the City.

      •    a municipal policy whereby every current and future development in Welland will have the LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Program apply

Currently David Alexander is Chair of the Strategic Plan - Developing the 'Welland Charter', based on citizen engagement, integrated community sustainability planning and the Melbourne Principles. In 2004 he was elected to the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) Board of Directors. Amongst others, he serves on the Environmental Issues and Sustainable Development Standing Committee, the Municipal Infrastructure and Transportation Policy Standing Committee and he actively supports the Partners for Climate Protection (PCP) Program. Mr. Alexander was reelected to the FCM Board in 2005.

David Alexander has a Masters degree in Environmental Studies and an undergraduate degree in Geology. Prior to becoming an elected official he was an educator and managed many sustainability projects including Niagara's Green Map and the Niagara Water Quality Protection Strategy. He has served on boards in the environmental sector such as the Toronto Atmospheric Fund and Green$aver. Currently, he leads an innovative climate change education project in Niagara.

The judges have selected a second winner for the 2005 EcoCouncillor Award. Denise Savoie was a municipal councillor in Victoria, British Columbia and was Chair of the Capital Regional District's Regional Roundtable on the Environment. Ms. Savoie was elected to the House of Commons in the 2006 Federal election and is unable to be present at the award ceremony in Vancouver. Her award will be presented at a reception in Ottawa to be held on Thursday November 9^th 2006.

The Gallon Environment Letter is an environment policy letter established in 1997 by Gary Gallon, a well known environmental expert, consultant, and advocate who was awarded the first Canadian Environment Lifetime Achievement Award in 2003. When Gary Gallon died shortly after receiving the award, his business, Canadian Institute for Business and the Environment, and his policy letter, Gallon Environment Letter, were continued by Contemporary Information Analysis Ltd., an environmental management consultancy owned by Colin Isaacs. Contemporary Information Analysis Ltd has subsequently been renamed CIAL Group and continues to operate both Canadian Institute for Business and the Environment and the Gallon Environment Letter from a rural property near Fisherville, Ontario. Canadian Institute for Business and the Environment also publishes a magazine, Ecological Farming in Ontario, on behalf of the Ecological Farmers Association of Ontario.

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For further information: www.cialgroup.com/whatsnew.htm

Colin Isaacs, Canadian Institute for Business and the Environment, (416) 410 0432

David Alexander, Councillor, City of Welland (905) 732 4868