Hello,

A report by the Office of the Auditor General of Canada recently stated that as of January 2024, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) “had no strategy in place to guide its climate change mitigation programs and activities,” as it was mandated to do in 2020.

AAFC has launched three main programs to support the industry to address climate change. The department has approved 14 Living Labs across the country (with every province having at least 1 Living Lab), disbursed funds through the On-Farm Climate Action Fund for 4,338 farmers to adopt beneficial management practices, and provided other funding through the Agriculture Clean Technology Program.

But in many respects, the report says AAFC needs to do more to put forth a strategy for Canada’s farmers to contribute to national climate change targets—which is important within the narrow scope of greenhouse gases quantification, given that agriculture is not only the country’s fifth-highest emitting sector. But in as a larger issue, having a plan for how the country’s farmers will address climate change is essential because, well…food is important.

The report acknowledges that AAFC has undertaken extensive science-based work to inform its current climate change programming, though in the absence of a strategy. But the department had not done a review of its programs to ensure policy coherence, and AAFC also lacked a long term strategy for achieving goals for reducing nationals emissions by 2030 and 2050.

The three main programs identified above also had not quantified their projects’ expected emissions reductions that would contribute to Canada’s methane emissions reduction target. And delays in reviewing applications and disbursing funding meant corresponded to delays in implementing projects.

Furthermore, the Office of the Auditor General criticized AAFC’s approach for establishing a target to reduce fertilizer emissions, finding that the department failed to meet with industry stakeholders prior to setting the target, and failed to establish voluntary agreements with fertilizer manufacturers, agricultural stakeholders, provinces, and farmers.

In light of their findings, the Office of the Auditor General noted that AAFC has only six growing seasons left tp achieve emissions reduction targets for 2030.

Stories from the PEN!

And now on to the Stories from the PEN!

• Read a profile of Ottawa’s activist choir—Just Voices—written by Eva Scherchel. The choir’s 20th anniversary concern will be this Friday, May 24, at the First Unitarian Church. You can also find out more about the event here—the proceeds will benefit the Ottawa Food Bank!

• Ecology Ottawa’s Climate Program Coordinator, Dan Rutabingwa Gakire, provides a helpful review of Ottawa’s Zoning Bylaws in the lead up to the city’s release of the first draft of the zoning by-law on May 31.

• Gaye Talyor offers some in-depth coverage of Ottawa’s plans to repurpose underused office buildings as apartments, in a reprinted article from The Energy Mix.

From the Archives

This month’s PEN stories include a profile of the Just Voices choir, which is celebrating its 20th anniversary this month. But this is not the first time the choir has appeared in the PEN. Deirdre Furlong wrote about the choir when it was just starting out, in an article included in our March 2004 edition. Read it here!

Other News

• The fourth round of UN negotiations for an international treaty to end plastic pollution wrapped up at the end of April, resulting in a weak compromise after the plastics industry sent in an army of lobbyists.

• An Ontario Superior Court Judge ruled that our fair City of Ottawa harmed its established taxi industry and neglected to enforces the city’s taxi bylaw when it allowed Uber to begin operating in 2014.

• A recent reports shows that Ottawa’s by-law officers each receive about 800 calls in an average year, compared to about 441 calls for officers in Toronto, Hamilton, or Windsor.

• The Sratford Affordable Housing Alliance is hosting a Community Land Trust’s information event on May 23—find out more here.

• A new policy limiting residents to a three-item curbside garbage limit is coming—see how the city plans to start enforcing it in stages in this news release.

--Christopher Bonasia, PEN editor

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