“Ontario’s Great Lakes Mayors are delighted to renew this important partnership with the Province of Ontario to ensure that our governments collaborate on the protection and restoration of the Great Lakes.” – St. Catharines, Ontario Mayor Brian McMullan and chair of the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Cities Initiative.
A Submission to Niagara At Large from the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Cities Initiative
St. Catharines, Ontario– This June 24, Ontario Environment Minister Jim Bradley and St. Catharines Mayor Brian McMullan, chair of the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Cities Initiative, signed a renewed Memorandum of Cooperation on the Great Lakes (Great Lakes MOC) between the Province and cities.
Our Great Lakes – the most abundant, and yet a fragile resource of freshwater in the world, and one we should be protecting for the health of present and future generations here. An image from the Canadian film documentary Waterlife.
“I am pleased to renew this commitment with Ontario’s Great Lakes municipalities as the province moves ahead with further protection for the Great Lakes. Our shorelines and beaches are vital to Ontario’s economy and underpin our quality of life. Our continued collaboration will help ensure our lakes remain healthy for the benefit of all.”
The Cities Initiative and the Government of Ontario renewed a memorandum of cooperation that commits the Ontario Ministries of Environment, Natural Resources and Agriculture and Food to establish a process of early engagement and consultation with Ontario municipalities, facilitated by the Cities Initiative. The agreement allows municipalities to provide strategic advice on Great Lakes matters, including the Canada-Ontario Agreement Respecting the Great Lakes Basin Ecosystem (COA), the principle agreement between the federal and provincial government on Great Lakes protection. The agreement has been renewed for a two year period.
“Ontario’s Great Lake Mayors are delighted to renew this important partnership with the Province of Ontario to ensure that our governments collaborate on the protection and restoration of the Great Lakes, the largest freshwater system on earth,” said Mayor Brian McMullan, chair of the Cities Initiative. “It is only by working together that we can tackle the most challenging issues facing the Lakes.”
St. Catharines, Ontario Mayor Brian McMullan, chair of the Great Lakes Mayors’ Initiative
Over the last four years, the Great Lakes MOC has resulted in regular dialogue on a confidential basis between cities and the Government of Ontario, on Great Lakes matters, including ballast water, Asian carp, beaches, stormwater, water conservation and sustainability planning, and most recently Ontario’s draft Great Lakes strategy and the proposed Great Lakes Protection Act.
Also under the agreement, cities and the Province have:
• Participated in two Mayors and Ministers Great Lakes Summits, where ministers and mayors discussed issues of strategic importance on the Great Lakes;
• Collaborated on three stormwater pilot projects with Cities Initiative members: an assessment of climate change risks to infrastructure in Welland, a study on retrofitting eco business parks with the City of Hamilton; and a conceptual study of water sustainability planning with the Region of Halton and the Town of Oakville;
• Worked together on a report establishing a business case for Great Lakes investment.
The Cities Initiative is a bi-national coalition of 90 Canadian and American mayors, representing over fifteen million people, that works to protect, restore and promote the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence basin. For more information, please see www.glslcities.org .
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