ABSTRACT

The evening of November 25, I attended the Statutory Public Hearing for Cochrane’s Municipal Development Plan (MDP), Envision Cochrane 2050, one of the town’s most important planning documents. I was the only speaker responding to the draft MDP.

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This evening there was a Statutory Public Hearing for Cochrane’s Municipal Development Plan, Envision Cochrane 2050. Pursuant to Section 632 of the Municipal Government Act  the council of the Town of Cochrane must by bylaw adopt a Municipal Development Plan (MDP).

 

There is a hierarchy of plans when making decisions about land use in Cochrane, which can be looked upon as a pyramid. The MDP is one of the town’s most important planning documents, a high-level document serving as a guide for long-range planning appearing near the top of the pyramid. However, notice at the top, sort of providing an overarching blueprint we have the Calgary Metropolitan Region’s Growth Plan. Given its importance in shaping Cochrane’s future my attendance at the Public Hearing was also motivated by my curiosity as to who would care enough to attend to speak to the draft MDP that evening. I arrived about 5:25 PM and the sign-up sheet had already been removed, presumably because the Administration wasn’t expecting anyone to speak. That left only one person on the speakers’ list, myself.

In his opening remarks, Mayor Genung described the meeting as “an opportunity to hear from the public”.  Then followed a short 4-and a-half-minute formal presentation by Administration given by Rachel Dillon with O2 Planning + Design (O2), the lead consultant for EC2050, who pointed out that she was there “to speak in favour of it”. Coming from somebody who I assume was paid handsomely for her work. I then was invited to come up and speak.

A recording of my presentation is available here, from 9:05 to 15:58 minutes. There were no questions or discussion from the assembled town councillors following my presentation. Let’s see in the second reading to occur at the Regular Council Meeting on December 9th, if they expunge any of the questionable language tied to Agenda 2030 from the MDP. Not doing so, will give an indication of where their loyalty lies, local or global.

The text of my presentation is provided below:

Envision Cochrane 2050 or Envisioning the UN’s Agenda 2030, In Disguise

So, let’s talk about “Envision Cochrane 2050” or, as I prefer to call it, “Envisioning the UN’s Agenda 2030, in Disguise”.

First of all, when one considers the logo for the new Municipal Development Plan (MDP) branded as Envision Cochrane 2050, you will note that it is an echo of the logo for the UN’s Agenda 2030, a circle with multiple-coloured wedges. A coincidence? Perhaps.

Agenda 2030 is the United Nation’s agenda for “Transforming our world” through its 17 Sustainable Development Goals. Each coloured wedge represents one of the 17 goals, where goal #13 represents, Climate Action, calling upon taking urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts. This is a key goal for the UN to achieving its 2030 agenda, since according to the UN, we are “standing at the brink of climate calamity”.

However, unlike our large cities like Edmonton and Calgary which are more overt about dancing to the tunes of the globalist UN and Agenda 2030, for example, Calgary has boldly declared a Climate Emergency and Edmonton has announced the creation of 15-minute communities, on the other hand, smaller municipalities like Cochrane are more covert, more subtle about their intention.

For example, sifting through Cochrane’s draft MDP one finds, 8 references to “climate” and two references to “climate change”, including a need to ”mitigate climate change”. To top things off, one also finds references to “reducing greenhouse gas emissions”, “implementing emission reduction programs”, and supporting “renewable energy systems”, where the latter corresponds nothing more than supporting unreliable energy systems for ideological reasons

With respect to mobility, on two occasions, the MDP calls for “low-carbon” options.

Interestingly, the first draft of the MDP mentioned “promoting net-zero development”, but that phrase was removed from this final draft, presumably as that would be too transparent of desiring to go along with Trudeau’s commitment to that goal.

Of concern are the five references to “infill” in the MDP. Take a visit to Calgary to see examples of “infills”, where especially in older developments, houses are torn down to construct rectangular block buildings, essentially mini-apartment blocks, towering over the neighbouring homes, changing the nature of those communities. One wonders if those references were included in the MDP to prepare the town to tap into funding from Trudeau’s Housing Accelerator Fund, which appears to have those strings attached to it.

We are told that consultation on the content of the MDP involved a consideration of the feedback received from three primary groups, namely, the elected Town Council, the unelected Town Administration, and the Public, residents of the Town. The contribution by this trio was represented by a pie chart, showing each slice of equal size. However, I wonder how the contribution by each of these parties was weighted. I participated in the public surveys and did not come across any questions with respect to climate change, reducing greenhouse gas emissions, infills, etc. So, that leads one to ask where did this language in the draft MDP come from?

The MDP is one of the town’s most important planning documents, a high-level document sitting near the top in the hierarchy of plans when making decisions about land use in Cochrane. However, at the top, above the MDP, sort of providing an overarching blueprint for how land is used and developed in the community, we have the Calgary Metropolitan Region Board’s Growth Plan. Remember that in 2022 Mayor Genung worked closely with Naheed Nenshi, then Calgary Mayor and now Leader of the NDP, to bring Cochrane into the Calgary Metropolitan Region Board.

Accordingly, I understand that Cochrane will be required to submit its MDP for review by the CMRB “to ensure compliance with the Growth Plan”. So much about not giving up some our sovereignty by joining the CMRB. As the Town Council proceeds to second reading on this draft MDP, hopefully they will expunge the questionable language I have alluded to from the MDP. Thank you.

SUPPLEMENTAL

Posted at the Town’s web site:
What’s next? Finalizing the plan
Council will discuss the Plan on December 9th for Second Reading, then it will be circulated to the Calgary Metropolitan Region Board (CMRB). If the CMRB is comfortable with the policy alignment between their Regional Growth Plan and the Envision Cochrane 2050 Plan, then Council will give Third Reading in March 2025, thereby approving the Plan and allowing it to be used to inform Town strategic decisions.

A pictorial representation (MDP, page 37) presumably of how Cochrane will look like in the future guided by the MDP. Note greater densification and absence of cars.

A pictorial representation (MDP, page 99) of “mobility”, how Cochranites will get around in the future, guided by the MDP.
“The plan identifies responsible investments to enhance existing transportation infrastructure and direction that will support multi-modal (driving, transit, walking, cycling and more) travel options, locally and regionally through detailed mobility strategies”. (MDP, page 100)

Given the requirement to “Ensure Envision Cochrane 2050 and future statutory plans, policies and guidelines align with the Calgary Metropolitan Region Board’s Growth Plan” (MDP, page 144), it is most likely that the language in the MDP about addressing climate change did not come from the public engagement but rather from the CMRB’s Growth Plan. In fact, as discussed in previous talks such as “The Calgary Region’s Road to Agenda 2030“, we read in Section 3.3.3 of the CMRB’s Growth Plan that “The CMR recognizes the need to work together to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and the risks due to Climate Change.” Furthermore, Sub-Section 3.3.3.1. declares that “the Municipal Development Plans shall address Climate Change resiliency, which will include: (a) a commitment to reduce municipal greenhouse gas emissions”. With the commitment in the Growth Plan to address climate change, a key tenet of Agenda 2030, it is indisputable that the CMRB puts the Calgary Region on the road to Agenda 2030.

While the Growth Plan does not specifically mention 15-minute-cities, what is recommended on page 46 of the Growth Plan sure sounds like15-minute-cities.

Footnotes:
(1) “Envision Cochrane 2050 has been carefully developed to ensure its compliance with the Growth Plan”. (MDP, page 17).
(2) “Goal 2: Intensification is concentrated in Cochrane’s central core and distributed throughout its communities.” (MDP, page 30 under Goals).

BREAKING NEWS

During the CMRB’s latest board meeting in Cochrane, Municipal Affairs Minister Ric McIver announced that starting next year, the Alberta government will no longer commit $1 million in annual support for the Calgary Metropolitan Region Board (CMRB) and will make membership of the group voluntary.

Not surprisingly, Mayor Genung, who worked closely with then Calgary mayor Genung, Naheed Nenshi, and current Alberta NDP leader, to drag Cochrane into the CMRB arrangement, is disappointed by this move. This could well be an important election issue for the upcoming municipal election in October 2025.