Local Innovation, National Impact: Teaming Up to Meet Climate Goals
Discover how a grassroots initiative from Georgian Bluffs is helping communities across Canada save money and cut carbon.
COMMUNITY CONTRIBUTION
This is the first of a series of monthly columns on a range of local environmental issues written for The Owen Sound Current by volunteers with NeighbourWoods North and other local climate action groups.
by Shawna McIvor
This column is based on my interview with Roger Martin, whose unique environmental idea gained traction in Georgian Bluffs. Remarkably, the fruits of this collaboration have already been adopted in Okotoks, Alberta and four other municipalities in Ontario.
How did this happen?
Owen Sound and Georgian Bluffs, like most municipalities across Canada, have developed corporate climate action plans. Here, ‘corporate’ refers to all assets managed by the municipalities. Owen Sound’s refreshed two-part Climate Action Strategy was adopted in July 2023; Georgian Bluffs’ corporate Climate Action Plan in November 2023.
But the ‘action’ part of these climate plans is progressing slowly and global warming is moving fast. In 2025, the global economy, outside of North America, is heading overwhelmingly towards decarbonization.
In 2021, Roger and his wife, Virginia, moved to Georgian Bluffs from Toronto, drawn by the area’s natural beauty and presence of family. Roger had just retired from a career in the trucking industry.
Back in the early 2000s, seeing the writing on the wall, Roger and his team at Unicell Ltd created Canada’s first EV delivery truck. Purolator adopted this vehicle in 2008 and was eager to order 100 more. But with battery prices about 15 times higher than today, the two sides couldn’t reach a viable price.
Skip ahead to 2023, when Roger joined the Georgian Bluffs Climate Action Working Group, a team of dedicated and capable volunteers. They were inspired to hear that electricity from Ontario’s (mostly) clean grid already emits less than one-fifth of the carbon dioxide of diesel, gasoline or natural gas for the same amount of energy.
Encouraged by this group, and working with the then-CAO, Niall Lobley, Roger developed a 30-year fleet electrification planner based on two premises: 1) vehicles would be replaced only at the end of their useful life; and 2) a fossil-fuel vehicle would be replaced by an EV only if a practical model was available to do the job, and its lifetime costs were lower.
When populated with Georgian Bluffs’ fleet’s data, the planner showed that switching to an EV fleet would, over time, reduce fleet fuel costs by 85% and cut fleet carbon dioxide emissions by 99%.
In 2024, the Council adopted the planner, persuaded by the potential for long-term fuel cost savings using electricity from Ontario’s clean grid and by voter demand for action to reduce emissions in the face of worsening climate change.
The stunning results from this planner seemed worth sharing with other municipalities. First, an IT expert was needed to develop an online template planner that any municipality could use.
If all municipalities submitted their data in a standardized way, it would reduce costs for the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) which administers a federal grant for greening municipal fleets. In turn, this would save time and money for municipalities seeking grant funds but lacking the resources and expertise to create their own planner.
The IT expert now involved is James Bergstra, who spent his youth on a local dairy farm before building a successful IT career in Toronto. Through mutual friends, James and Roger were connected and volunteered their time to create an online fleet template planner and website.
They have since spoken with the FCM about recommending this template to members across Canada. Progress in the public sector can be slow, but action has begun.
If the FCM succeeds in achieving widespread adoption, many communities nationwide will benefit from an initiative that started in the ‘little’ township of Georgian Bluffs.
Amazing!
Any readers interested in learning more about the township’s fleet electrification planner is welcome to contact the Environmental Initiatives Coordinator for Georgian Bluffs, Riel Warrilow. Her e-mail is rwarrilow@georgianbluffs.ca
Thank you to sponsors of The Owen Sound Current Writers’ Fund, who make these community contributions possible. Contributions from the community do not necessarily reflect the opinions or beliefs of The Owen Sound Current and its editor or publisher.