ABSTRACT

According to a recent Cochrane Eagle article, “CUTRIC partners with COLT and Town of Cochrane on zero-emission fleet project”, with the benefit of money dangled out by the Trudeau Government, the “Town of Cochrane” is aligning with an organization called the Canadian Urban Transit Research and Innovation Consortium (CUTRIC) to undertake a $103,800 planning study to potentially transition the Cochrane On-Demand Local Transit (COLT) fleet of buses to zero-emission vehicles.

A Government of Canada news release related to the study, “The Government of Canada and the Town of Cochrane invest to plan for the electrification of Cochrane’s transit fleet”, quotes Cochrane’s Mayor Jeff Genung as saying, “The town of Cochrane is excited (emphasis added) for the Government of Canada’s investment in our community and pleased to provide our support as we work towards our commitment to environmental stewardship and enhanced connectivity.” Essentially saying that “the town of Cochrane” (whatever that means) is “excited” to support Trudeau’s policy to decarbonize public transit as part of his ideological Net Carbon Zero policy aligned with the globalist UN/WEF’s Agenda 2030.

An email was sent to the Mayor and Town council on June 9 to try get some clarification about the project, asking the following questions with respect to the announced study:
1. When the mayor says that “the town of Cochrane is quite excited” about this project, I am not clear as what is meant by “the town of Cochrane”. Who authorized this study? The Administration? The Mayor? The Town Council? If the latter, can you please refer me to the Town council meeting where this was discussed and presumably approved by Town Council?
2. I would like to hear from each Council member individually, if or not they are “excited” by this project?
3. I understand that in this case the Town of Cochrane will bare 20% of the cost of this study, or $20,760. I don’t believe that such an allocation of taxpayer dollars was part of the recent approved budget, so where is it coming from?

Given that Mayor Genung was quoted in the Government of Canada news release related to the study, “The Government of Canada and the Town of Cochrane invest to plan for the electrification of Cochrane’s transit fleet”, it is clear that he had a role in the initiation of this project. It is less clear, however, if there was any involvement by the entire Town Council, especially as thus far, as from past experience is typical behaviour, they have refused to answer my email. Hearing nothing from the Councillors, I take it to mean that they are equally “excited” about this study to electrify our COLT vehicles, or they are too cowardly to say otherwise.

Bottom line: Do we want our town to be marching to the tune of Justin Trudeau and the WEF?

FULL BLOG

According to a recent Cochrane Eagle article, “CUTRIC partners with COLT and Town of Cochrane on zero-emission fleet project”, with the benefit of money dangled out by the Trudeau Government, the “Town of Cochrane” is aligning with an organization called the Canadian Urban Transit Research and Innovation Consortium (CUTRIC) to undertake a $103,800 planning study to potentially transition the Cochrane On-Demand Local Transit (COLT) fleet of buses to zero-emission vehicles. Interestingly, Josipa Petrunic, the CEO of CUTRIC, contacted the Cochrane Eagle to generate this article. Not surprising, given that CUTRIC is the consulting firm handpicked by the Trudeau government and the recipient of $103,800 to carry out the study, the article was very upbeat as to how the study can benefit the Town of Cochrane. However, the headline for the article, “CUTRIC partners with COLT and Town of Cochrane on zero-emission fleet project”, is incorrect. Closer to the truth is the news release, “The Government of Canada and the Town of Cochrane invest to plan for the electrification of Cochrane’s transit fleet”, issued by the Government of Canada and the Town of Cochrane although there is some ambiguity as what is meant by the “Town of Cochrane”. According to the news release, the partnership is between the Government of Canada and the Town of Cochrane whereby the Trudeau government is contributing 80% ($83,040) to the cost of this project through its Zero Emission Transit Fund, with the town of Cochrane contributing the remaining 20% ($20,760).

The headline for an article by the Cochrane Times, “Town of Cochrane and Government of Canada partner in grant for electric bus research”, also captures the story more faithfully. According to the Cochrane Times, “A team of Cochrane staff has been working with members of the CUTRIC team since December 2022 as the planning study progresses, looking primarily at transitioning Cochrane’s current transit system to electric”. Unfortunately, the members of this team of Cochrane staff were not identified. According to the Cochrane Times article, “CUTRIC is on schedule to complete the study by the fall of 2023, at which point the team they’ve been working alongside in Cochrane will present their findings to council”.

The news release related to the study, quotes Cochrane’s Mayor Jeff Genung as gushingly saying, “The town of Cochrane is excited (emphasis added) for the Government of Canada’s investment in our community and pleased to provide our support as we work towards our commitment to environmental stewardship and enhanced connectivity.” Essentially saying that “the town of Cochrane” (whatever that means) is “excited” to support Trudeau’s policy to decarbonize public transit as part of Trudeau’s ideological Net Carbon Zero policy aligned with the globalist UN/WEF’s Agenda 2030.

One presumes that the code word “environmental stewardship” in the Genung quote refers to reducing greenhouse gas emissions. However, the meaning of the code word “connectivity” is less certain.

Interestingly, Mitchell Hamm, Community Services Director, Town of Cochrane in a Town of Cochrane news release, “E-scooter pilot program returns to Cochrane with a new electric vehicle partner, Bird”, on June 23, 2023 also makes reference to “connectivity”. The news release, while acknowledging that the e-scooter program is intended “to support Cochrane’s environmental and transportation goals of limiting carbon emissions”, quotes Mitchell Hamm as saying, “Supporting Council’s Strategic Plan, this pilot project supports connectivity (emphasis added), vibrancy and livability in Cochrane”. Given the reference to the e-scooter program being aligned with Council’s Strategic Plan, presumably the Council’s Strategic Plan will give some clues as to the meaning of the code word, “connectivity”.  On page 13 of the “2022-2025 Cochrane Strategic Plan”,  in a section entitled “Connectivity”, one finds, “Our community connectivity is supported by the crossroads of two Provincial highways, a growing local road network, and a commitment to developing and maintaining a comprehensive pathway network. Walking, biking, scootering, transit – we support connection”. Noticeably absent in that statement is a reference to private vehicles, so accordingly one can conclude that the code word “connectivity” means the promotion of all forms of transportation apart from private vehicles. While municipalities like the City of Calgary, which has declared a “climate emergency”, are very open about their intentions, the Town of Cochrane is more discreet and circumspect in terms of what it is trying to achieve.

Noteworthy that “Cochrane’s Town Council Mum About 15-Minute Cities” even though according to page 46 of the Calgary Metropolitan Region Board’s (CMRB’s) Growth Plan, which was approved by Town Council and pushed by Mayor Genung as a sidekick to then Calgary Mayor, Naheed Nenshi, certainly has the hallmarks of a description of a 15-minute city.

Through its Zero Emission Transit Fund, the Government of Canada “is investing $2.75 billion over five years, starting in 2021, to support public transit and school bus operators plan for electrification, support the purchase of 5,000 zero emission buses and build supporting infrastructure, including charging infrastructure and facility upgrades”. The Canadian Urban Transit Research & Innovation Consortium (CUTRIC) has been selected to act as the funnel and facilitator for such funding. CUTRIC describes itself as “Proudly recognized as the Government of Canada’s Zero Emission Transit Fund National Planning Service, supporting public transit agencies decarbonize their fleets”.

The reference to “feasibility analysis” by  CUTRIC’s President and CEO, Josipa Petrunić, in the Cochrane Eagle article, “CUTRIC partners with COLT and Town of Cochrane on zero-emission fleet project”, made it sound as sounds as if the study was a ‘feasibility’ study. However, knowing the posture of the Trudeau Government and that of his hand-chosen organization, CUTRIC, as expressed by CUTRIC’s President and CEO, Josipa Petrunić, saying that “Decarbonizing public transit isn’t just a choice, it’s a necessity”, this so-called ‘study’ is most certainly the first step to putting Cochrane on the road to electrifying its bus fleet. After all, as Petrunić pointed out, “right now, there’s a lot of money at the federal level to buy electric buses”.

To no surprise the City of Calgary, the mothership in the Calgary Metropolitan Regional Board (CMRB) of which Cochrane is a part, is leading the way. On June 19, 2023 Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson paid a visit to Calgary to dole out $325 million grant under the Zero Emission Transit Fund to purchase 259 battery-powered buses, about a quarter of the city’s current fleet.  As I previously pointed out, here and here, Cochrane’s willing participation in the CMRB, a centralized regional planning initiative brought in by the previous NDP government, puts Cochrane on the road to Agenda 2030 and the UN’s sustainable development goals, especially with respect to ‘fighting’ climate change.

On June 9, I wrote an email to the members of Town council, wherein I asked the following questions with respect to the announced study:

  1. When the mayor says that “the town of Cochrane is quite excited” about this project, I am not clear as what is meant by “the town of Cochrane”. Who authorized this study? The Administration? The Mayor? The Town Council? If the latter, can you please refer me to the Town council meeting where this was discussed and presumably approved by Town Council?
  2. I would like to hear from each Council member individually, if or not they are “excited” by this project?
  3. I understand that in this case the Town of Cochrane will bare 20% of the cost of this study, or $20,760. I don’t believe that such an allocation of taxpayer dollars was part of the recent approved budget, so where is it coming from?

Given that Mayor Genung was quoted in the Government of Canada news release related to the study, “The Government of Canada and the Town of Cochrane invest to plan for the electrification of Cochrane’s transit fleet”, it is clear that he had a role in initiation of this project. It is less clear if there was any involvement by the entire Town Council, especially as they have refused to answer my email.

Such posturing by our mayor, championing the agenda of the federal Liberals and Justin Trudeau, comes as no surprise as this is the mayor who decided in November 2019, without Council engagement, that EV charging stations, at taxpayer expense, should be installed at the parking lot across from the Station, and who was a strong advocate to having Cochrane tied up with the Calgary Metropolitan Region Board (CMRB).

As is characteristic for this Town Council, my queries were ignored, much like my recent unanswered query with respect to their positions on 15-minute cities. As I pointed out in the blog post “Cochrane’s Town Council Mum About 15-Minute Cities”, such stonewalling, tantamount to passive aggressive behaviour on the part of our Town Council, in my view, represents a breach of Cochrane’s Council Code of Conduct Bylaw which states in the Preamble that “the public is entitled to expect the highest standards of conduct from the members that it elects to council for the Town of Cochrane”, and “the establishment of a code of conduct for members of council is consistent with the principles of transparent and accountable government”. I don’t consider ignoring legitimate concerns raised by citizens as acceptable conduct and aligned with “the principles of transparent and accountable government”. Unfortunately, the Complaint Process, as outlined in Council Code of Conduct Bylaw, can only be initiated by the council members themselves. This self-regulation is unacceptable. There should be the ability of citizens to initiate a complaint as requested in a presentation that I made to Town council on March 20th. There was an expectation after that presentation that the Administration would come forward with an amendment to Cochrane’s Council Code of Conduct Bylaw to allow the public to lodge a complaint, but, thus far, only crickets.

As it stands, my understanding is that the commitment to undertake a study to look into electrifying the COLT buses was made solely by the CAO and Mayor without any engagement with the Town Council. However, the failure of the Town Council to answer my queries about the study suggests that they are equally “excited” about the study, or they are too cowardly to say otherwise. It is clear that our self-described “progressive” mayor is “excited” to be furthering the interests of Justin Trudeau. If the residents of Cochrane are okay with Genung’s allegiance to Justin Trudueau, then when the next federal election rolls around they may as well elect a Liberal M.P.

UPDATE (August 15, 2023)

After more than a month of not receiving a reply to my questions from the Mayor and Council, on July 14, 2023 made a FOIP request to the Town for “All records related to a joint investment of $103,800 by the Town of Cochrane and the Government of Canada to plan for the electrification of Cochrane’s transit fleet with the intent to determine who in the Town authorized this joint project and where in Cochrane’s budget the $20,760 contribution by the Town came from” for the period from January 1, 2021 to the time of making the FOIP request. The town is allowed 30 days to fulfill the request. On August 14, 2023, I received the following notification from the Town:
“I am writing to confirm that the Town of Cochrane requires an extension to the 30 day period for release of information relating to your FOIP request.
The Town of Cochrane is allowed to extend the period for release a further 30 days, according to the FOIP Act.  The reasons for the extension are that in addition to dealing with a number of requests at the current time, upon assessment of the records found, we will be required to notify a third party of this request.  If it is possible to release the information before that time we will of course do so.
If you are not satisfied with the reasons for the extension, you may make a complaint to the Office of the Privacy Commission.  If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact the FOIP office at FOIP@cochrane.ca.

I replied as follows taking note of how the mayor looks upon such FOIPs as ‘attacks’ on the Town:
“I assume that you are allowed to extend the period of release a further 30 days, but I also expect good reasons for why. I don’t understand why you would have to notify a third party of the request and why it took this long to discover there was what you call a third party, which I assume is a party not employed by the Town. I also don’t see how such notification, if needed, would take up a lot of time. I don’t want to go through all the hassle of dealing with the Office of the Privacy Commissioner, which I expect can be time consuming in itself, so I will agree to the extension with the expectation that you will be able to release the information before the further 30 days”.
I am a little concerned that the excuse for additional time will become more common to support a desired narrative.  While the Mayor rails against FOIPs and considers them as unnecessary ‘attacks’ on the Town, perhaps if he and the Town Council hadn’t refused to answer my questions on this matter, I wouldn’t have had to make a FOIP request to get some answers.”

Received a reply on August 15, 2023:
“We note your concerns relating to this extension and can confirm that we are allowed to extend for a further period of 30 days under certain circumstances.  Section 14(1)(c) of the Act deals with extensions to consult with a third party or another public body before deciding whether to grant access to a record.  In addition, the Town of Cochrane is, currently, processing a large number of FOIP requests.
I can assure you we take our duty to assist applicants very seriously as per the FOIP Act and Regulations.
Our office makes every attempt to release requests within the initial 30 day period allowed, however, due to the reasons noted above we will require the further extension.  The records will be released as soon as possible.  Again, if you have any further questions or require an update to your file, please do not hesitate to contact us at FOIP@cochrane.ca.

Up to this point in time, I had made only two other FOIP requests to the Town of Cochrane, one in January 2021 related to the EV chargers installed in the parking lot across from The Station and the other in February 2022 related to Town of Cochrane’s imposition of vaccine mandates for Town staff. This was the first time that I had encountered the need to “consult with a third party or another public body before deciding whether to grant access to a record” as a reason for the delay of a FOIP record. I wondered if this was because of the involvement of the Government of Canada and the consulting firm, the Canadian Urban Transit Research and Innovation Consortium (CUTRIC), hand-picked by Trudeau to carry out the joint ‘study’.

I replied in turn:
“Thank you for making me aware of Alberta’s FOIP Act. I consulted Section 14(1) of the Act. As below:
Extending time limit for responding
14(1)  The head of a public body may extend the time for responding to a request for up to 30 days or, with the Commissioner’s permission, for a longer period if
(a)    the applicant does not give enough detail to enable the public body to identify a requested record,
(b)    a large number of records are requested or must be searched and responding within the period set out in section 11 would unreasonably interfere with the operations of the public body,
(c)    more time is needed to consult with a third party or another public body before deciding whether to grant access to a record, or
(d)    a third party asks for a review under section 65(2) or 77(3).
With respect to the reasons for an extension, the only ones, in my view, that I believe are applicable in my case are possibly (c) and (d). I don’t see listed, “The Town of Cochrane is, currently, processing a large number of FOIP requests”.  Hopefully, (c) or (d) can be resolved relatively quickly. I am wondering if CUTRIC might be the so-called third party.
With respect to (c) and consulting with a third party, my understanding is that the granting of access to a record can be delayed should the third party ask for a review under section 65(2) or 77(3). Should a third party ask for this, then I wish to be advised when such a request is made so I can follow the progress of having my FOIP request attended to.
Concerns me that this is nothing more than delay tactics.

To which I received the following reply on August 15, 2023:
“We would, of course, notify you if a third party asks for a review”.

UPDATE (August 23, 2023)

On August 22, 2023 I sent the following email to the town’s Record Office:
“I understand that the hold-up of the release of my FOIP report is that “more time is needed to consult with a third party or another public body before deciding whether to grant access to a record”, as per 14(1)(d) of Alberta’s FOIP Act.
A week has passed since we last communicated. I would think that would be sufficient time to get in touch with and consult with the third party or public body, who, I understand, if unwilling to grant access to a record, can ask for a review under section 65(2) or 77(3) of Alberta’s FOIP Act.
I see no need for a delay in getting this matter settled.

To which I received the following response on August 23, 2023:
“Your application is in process and we will release the information at our earliest opportunity, within the allowed period of extension”. Looks like they intend to delay the release of the FOIP information until September 14, 2023.