February 24, 2011

Pictured above from Left to Right: Lee Richardson, MP for Calgary Centre, Len Bracko, St. Albert City Councillor and member of FCM’s National Board of Directors and Mayor Naheed Nenshi.


FCM’s Green Municipal Fund supports the City of Calgary’s Community GHG Reduction Plan

Calgary – Karen Leibovici, chair of FCM’s Green Municipal Fund (GMF) and councillor for the City of Edmonton Len Bracko, and Lee Richardson, Member of Parliament for Calgary Centre, today announced a GMF grant contribution for the City of Calgary. Calgary put the $328,850 towards reducing community-wide greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, one of the three top priority areas for its urban sustainability plan.

“FCM’s Green Municipal Fund offers a range of resources and services that specifically address the sustainable community development needs of municipal governments,” said Leibovici. “The financing and knowledge provided by the Fund supports the development of communities that are more environmentally, socially and economically sustainable.”

“The Government of Canada is assisting municipalities across the country in achieving their goal of a cleaner and healthier environment for Canadians through the Green Municipal Fund,” said Lee Richardson, MP. “Today’s announcement is another example of how our government — in partnership with FCM — is helping Calgary build a greener future for our citizens.”

The community-wide GHG reduction plan falls out of Calgary’s larger long term plan for urban sustainability, imagineCALGARY, one of the largest sustainability visioning processes ever organized in Canada. More than 18,000 citizens were involved in developing, among other things, short- and medium-term GHG-reduction targets.

Strategic in nature, Calgary’s GHG Reduction Plan will outline the actions and roles needed across different sectors to reduce emissions on a community-wide basis and deliver three primary outcomes: definitions of roles and accountabilities; an implementation framework for The City and community partners, and a system to measure and report GHG emission levels and targets.

The project is being lead by The City of Calgary in consultation with community stakeholder groups.  The next stage in the process will be public engagement, expected to begin in April, with the final draft plan going to City council in November 2011.

The Government of Canada endowed the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) with $550 million to establish the Green Municipal Fund. The Fund supports partnerships and leveraging of both public and private-sector funding to reach higher standards of air, water and soil quality, and climate protection.

FCM has been the national voice of municipal governments since 1901. It fosters the development of sustainable communities to improve quality of life by promoting strong, effective, and accountable municipal government.




The following are remarks given by Lee Richardson, MP at the Green Municipal Funding announcement at City Hall on February 24, 2011.

Hello everyone. It’s a pleasure to be here.

On behalf of the Honourable Christian Paradis, Minister of Natural Resources, and the Government of Canada, I’m pleased to be announcing a clean energy investment in the City of Calgary.

The Government of Canada has endowed the Federation of Canadian Municipalities with $550 million to establish and manage the Green Municipal Fund.

This fund is assisting municipalities across the country in achieving their goal of a cleaner and healthier environment for Canadians.

It’s working to enhance our communities by promoting environmental sustainability and economic growth.

A perfect example of our strategy can be found right here, today, in our support for the City of Calgary.

I’m very pleased to announce that your Federal Government, through the Green Municipal Fund, will provide a grant of $328,850 to this project.

This support enables the City of Calgary to implement its Sustainable Community GHG Reduction Initiative.

This project aims to focus on the issue of climate change, but will also consider the effect of greenhouse gases on air quality, overall ecological footprint, health and quality of life.

Canadians know that our government is taking clear, decisive action on both these fronts.

Nationally we’re addressing the challenges of climate change with an approach that balances our economic prosperity with the need to protect our natural resources.

We are committed to reducing Canada’s total greenhouse gas emissions by 17 percent from 2005 levels by 2020, a target that reflects the importance of aligning with the US.

Through the Green Municipal Fund, the Government of Canada, in partnership with the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, is assisting in creating a cleaner and healthier environment for Canadians.  This is our Government’s goal right across the country.

We are proud to be your partner and to support this exciting sustainable community GHG reduction initiative.

Thank you.