MARC EDWARDS
answers to Réseau écocitoyen de Saint-Lambert’s questions
Click on each question and you’ll see the candidate’s answer.
Climate Change
As an entrepreneur, I am always looking for business opportunities that have a significant environmental impact, while being economically viable. For example, my wife and I have been studying the possibility of marketing small bio digesters for the dairy industry. The idea was to finance the purchase of the digesters using the Green Fund and then generate income through carbon credits and the sale of gas to the participating farmers. Eventually, we wanted to be able to include the table scraps from the local communities.
Use of my bike and a lot of walking.
My office is in my city
I’m running for mayor to make Saint-Lambert an environmental model.
Are any of these issues particularly important to you personally, and to which you are firmly committed to finding a solution to?
Update of the environmental/sustainable development policy that dates back to 2012 with initiatives ending in 2016.
Organic waste management;
Promotion of active transportation.
In all sincerity, I do not believe in the principle of “finding solutions”, I think that Saint-
Lambert must become a model for its approach and initiatives that have the potential to make a significant contribution.
– Make sure to consider the environmental impacts in all decisions made by the city.
– Better use of available resources (IVEO, YHC, etc.)
– Stimulation of local commerce
– Electric shuttle, bike paths and stimulation of active transportation in general
– Municipal golf composting pilot project
– Reduction in the use of pesticides (2 golf courses)
– Reduced use of water (2 golf courses)
– Green roofs on municipal buildings during renovations
I did not spend a lot of time looking at what specifically happens in each city, but I must say that many people in the area talk about Varenne as an inspired city.
○ How do you intend to collaborate with neighbouring cities and the RMT on this issue?
○ What do you intend to do on the local level?
I have already proposed (and discussed with RTL) the addition of an electric shuttle that would cross the city as part of a local business development initiative.
Ensuring the safety, efficiency and comfort of physically active transportation improves everyone’s quality of life, from the very young, to the very old. The multiple benefits include energy conservation, pollution and noise reduction, improved physical health, social interaction and a lower cost to the community.
Citizen contributions to this issue can be viewed on jevotevelo.com.
– Adding bike lanes
– Addition of bike racks
– Adding pedestrian crosswalks
– Increased police surveillance in residential areas
Shopping locally promotes physically active transportation and reduces the need for cars.
Local commercial hubs are often the only businesses accessible to youth, seniors, to those without cars or citizens that are mobility-impaired. The vitality of these areas brings liveliness to the neighbourhood as well as an enhanced sense of community (source: vivreenville.org).
See below – Local business October 5th
– Compost pilot project with golf club;
– 2nd recycling bin at a greatly reduced price – avoid that recyclables end up in garbage cans when the bin is plain.
Please take note that practically every resident the Eco-Citizen Network has presented itself to, first asks why Saint-Lambert still does not have organic waste collection, generally before any other question.
Yes, I have already put forward a composting pilot project with the municipal golf course.
Buildings, roads and parking lots seal the surface of the soil and intensify the urban heat island effect as well as increase the cost of infrastructure, in particular for rainwater management systems. Revegetation of the soil and the greening of rooftops are efficient strategies that support multiple benefits (source: vivreenville.org).
I will certainly consider putting green roofs on municipal buildings. I also want to study the possibility of using this type (see picture) of coating in parking lots.
○ We would especially like to know your opinion on the growing of vegetables on front lawns, the conversion of purely decorative flowerbeds into edible landscaping, chicken coops in urban settings and/or urban beekeeping.
Urban agriculture is a form of citizens’ advocacy to promote better access to nutritious foods and to healthy living environments (source: vivreenville.org). It promotes the reduction of chemicals, packaging and energy used in growing, preserving and transporting fresh foods.
To be considered when we update our environmental/sustainable development policy.
○ What would be, in your opinion, the main elements of an innovative and ambitious public participation policy?
○ How would you improve on the functionality of the advisory committees?
Saint-Lambert residents are probably one of the smartest and most educated people in North America, so we need to involve them more in analyzing our needs and in the decision-making process.
Maintain / possibly improve the budget for citizen participation, accelerate the process of
implementation of projects, recognition of the contribution of participants.
○ How do we ensure that the environmental impacts of decisions are considered at the same level as social and economic impacts?
○ How do we ensure that the entire municipal administration is aware of and applies sustainable development principles?
○ Do you plan to provide the city with quantified targets for environmental impact, as well as a related monitoring process (for example: emissions of GHGs, water consumption, proportion of paved surfaces…)?
Once elected all decisions will be based on 3 main pillars:
– Service to citizens
– Financial impact
– Environmental impact
○ What do you think are the key components of sustainable urban development?
Excellent references for sustainable urban development are available at collectivitesviables.org.
Yes!