We asked all the candidates running for office in our airshed communities to answer a questionnaire about air quality. Not every candidate answered, and some provided comments rather than responses, but we have posted every response we got.
Please click on the community name below to candidate view responses (listed by candidate’s last name alphabetically).
- Town of Gibsons
- Islands Trust: Keats/Gambier
- Bowen Island Municipality
- Village of Lions Bay
- District of Squamish
- Resort Municipality of Whistler
- Village of Pemberton
- Squamish Lillooet Regional District
Questionnaire:
1) Car emissions are by far the largest contributor to air pollution in the Sea-to-Sky and Howe Sound airshed. Transportation Demand Management (TDM) is a set of strategies used to reduce the number of vehicles on the road. TDM promotes and supports increased walking, cycling, transit, carpooling, and increased transportation choices.
1.1) Do you support the creation of TDM through smart growth planning and changes to infrastructure such as increasing sidewalks and bike paths and identifying new park & ride areas? If yes, what specific outcomes do you support? If no, why not?
1.2) Do you support marketing tools like carpooling and school bike plans and promoting events such as bike to work week and car-free days in the town centre? If yes, what specific tools do you support? If no, why not?
2) Transit services have been making headlines throughout Sea-to-Sky corridor communities for months. Recent feasibility studies indicate that the ridership potential exists to increase services along Highway 99 and within communities as well. The key to doing this successfully is ensuring that schedules, routes, and prices appeal to riders. In 2012, BC Transit is planning a review of the Sea-to-Sky transit plan. The Sea-to-Sky Clean Air Society believes an integrated and inter-regional transit plan could help identify and overcome barriers and improve ridership from West Vancouver up to Mount Currie. A successful plan might involve partnerships between public transit authorities and private carriers.
2.1) Do you ride local or regional buses on a regular basis (public transit or private carriers)? If not, what would be required for you to start taking the bus? (For example: better schedule, different routes, lower cost? Or other?)
2.2) Do you support the development of an inter-regional transit plan that would integrate services in communities from Metro Vancouver and the Squamish Lillooet Regional District (from West Vancouver to Mount Currie)?
2.3) What would a successful inter-regional plan look like to you?
3) Industry presents another source of air pollution in the Sea-to-Sky and Howe Sound airshed. Examples include emissions from pulp and paper mills, gravel pit mines, asphalt plants, and contributions from heavy duty diesel engines.
3.1) How would you encourage the use of more efficient standards and greener technology for new and retrofitted industries in your community?
4) The way in which we plan and develop our communities has an over-arching influence on air quality. When jobs are located close to home it means commuting distances are reduced. However, when residential and school areas are zoned too close to industrial activities, land use conflicts can arise.
(Whistler candidates exempted due to urban containment boundary)
4.1a) How will you ensure that all new residential and commercial development occurs in existing developed areas, thereby increasing walkability and proximity to shops and services?
(Whistler candidates only)
4.1b) With a defined urban containment boundary, how will you ensure that all new residential and commercial development in Whistler occurs in existing developed areas, without creating conflict with nearby resource or industrial operations?
4.2) What policies do you think will be most effective at reducing our community’s impact on air quality?
5) Air quality is a major environmental risk to the health of Canadians and is responsible for over 70,000 new cases of asthma among children a year. Contaminants arise from vehicle emissions, burning of various materials, industrial emissions, and pesticide usage. Many communities have begun to adopt local bylaws on banning backyard burning and cosmetic pesticides. In the Sea-to-Sky and Howe Sound airshed, the Town of Gibsons, Bowen Island Municipality, and the Village of Lions Bay have adopted or drafted bylaws that ban or severely limit backyard burning. The District of Sechelt’s Fire Service bylaw restricts the conditions under which campfires are permitted and requires that all newly installed wood burning stoves are certified by the Environmental Protection Agency.
(Whistler candidates exempted (bylaw already in place))
5.1) The Province of BC is considering a province-wide ban on the use of cosmetic pesticides. Regardless of the outcome, would you support a local bylaw banning pesticide use in your community?
(For Pemberton, and SLRD Electoral Areas only)
5.2) Would you support adopting a similar backyard burning bylaw(s) in (Pemberton/SLRD Electoral Areas)?