Choosing our Future:
From Vision to Action
Why Should Canada’s Capital Region do Long-Term Sustainability Planning?
Thinking about our future now is just common sense.
Local governments make many of the most important decisions that shape our future. While other government institutions are vital players in environmental protection, cities plan land use and transportation systems, manage solid and liquid wastes, often operate water and energy utilities, administer building codes, build and maintain infrastructure, and more. We need to capitalize on the opportunity to be proactive as opposed to reactive in addressing the challenges of the 21st century.
The City of Ottawa, City of Gatineau and the National Capital Commission are starting to take a longer-term and more integrated planning approach for all their services; for example, planning ahead to decrease our resource consumption will reduce the need for costly expansion of municipal facilities such as landfill sites and water and wastewater treatment plants in the future.
Thinking about our future now is the responsible thing to do.