ABSTRACT

A $103,800 planning study to potentially transition the Cochrane On-Demand Local Transit (COLT) fleet of buses to zero-emission vehicles, jointly funded by the Town of Cochrane, carrying $20,760 of the cost and the Government of Canada carrying the remainder of the cost through its Zero Emission Transit Fund, was carried out by the Canadian Urban Transit Research & Innovation Consortium (CUTRIC), a consulting firm endorsed by the Trudeau government.

Despite Ms. Josipa Petrunić, the President and CEO of CUTRIC, at the launch of the study, having told the Cochrane Eagle in June 2023 that “what Cochrane citizens get is a very detailed, technical report”, when it came time for when the technical report was released to the Town Council, CUTRIC refused to make it publicly available, even a redacted version.

In June 2024, Ms. Jaylene Robertson, Director, Legislative & Administrative Services, while saying the technical report was unavailable to the public, advised that a summary report “being prepared currently” was to be made available to the public.

Enquiries were made as to the status of the summary report after 7 months and, again, after 12 months in June 2025, at which time I was told that discussions were continuing with the provider, and I would be told as soon as this summary report, “currently” being prepared, was available.

I reminded Ms. Robertson that Ms. Petrunić, the President and CEO of CUTRIC, at the launch of the study, had promised that “what Cochrane citizens get is a very detailed, technical report”.

As a Cochrane citizen, who unwittingly contributed through my taxes to that study, grounded in the nonsense of ‘fighting’ climate change, I submitted that CUTRIC should be requested to give back our money spent on this study for failing to deliver what “Cochrane citizens” had been promised.

FULL BLOG

As noted in a previous blog post from July 2023, a $103,800 planning study to potentially transition the Cochrane On-Demand Local Transit (COLT) fleet of buses to zero-emission vehicles, jointly funded by the Town of Cochrane, carrying $20,760 of the cost and the Government of Canada carrying the remainder of the cost through its Zero Emission Transit Fund, was carried out by the Canadian Urban Transit Research & Innovation Consortium (CUTRIC), a consulting firm endorsed by the Trudeau government. This project was primarily driven by the Town’s Administration with the lead being Mr. Devin LaFleche, (He/Him), Community Connectivity Advisor, until his leaving the town in September 2022 to take up a position with Rocky View County.

In March 2024, Ms. Josipa Petrunić, President and CEO of CUTRIC, attended the town’s Committee of the Whole meeting to provide a summary of CUTRIC’s technical report arising from the completed study, a copy of which was provided to the Council members.

The Committee of the Whole Report prepared by the Administration for CUTRIC’s presentation, concluded that “due to potential changes in COLT service models and the lack of necessary infrastructure, the implementation of electrification is deemed infeasible at present (emphasis added)”, as if this impractical technology was feasible at any time.

Thankfully for the Town of Cochrane, such unbridled enthusiasm for fulfilling Trudeau’s ideological drive to net carbon zero was brought back to reality, so that we were able to avoid a fiasco as occurred in Edmonton where the company, California-based Proterra, from which it purchased 60 battery operated buses, failed its contractual obligations and had gone bankrupt.

Ms. Petrunić began her presentation by saying that she had asked that the technical report, which had originally accompanied Administration’s Committee of the Whole Report for that agenda item, was to be removed as it was “confidential and contained intellectual property”. That was confirmed by Ms. Michelle Delorme, Cochrane’s Manager, Community Services, when I asked if CUTRIC’s technical report would be publicly available? I was told, “While we understand your concerns about transparency, please note that CUTRIC’s confidentiality requirements are something we must follow”.

Therefore, on May 2, 2024, I made a FOIP request, expecting that at least a redacted version of the CUTRIC report would be provided. After two months of delay, on June 3, 2024, I was advised by Ms. Jaylene Robertson, Cochrane’s FOIP Head, that my request was refused. Highly disappointing that every last word in that report is deemed confidential, just because CUTRIC says so.

I was told, however, that “as part of the final deliverables under this study CUTRIC will be providing a summary report with anonymized and aggregated outcomes that will capture the critical outcomes of the study without divulging the protected Intellectual Property input and methodologies”. I was also told, “That report is being prepared currently and will be made available to you and to the public”.

After waiting patiently for some five months, on November 19, 2024, I contacted Ms. Jaylene Robertson, Director, Legislative & Administrative Services, as to the status of the summary report “being prepared currently” that was to be made available to the public. She responded, “We are looking into the status and once I hear back, I will confirm with you”.

Not hearing anything further after about seven months, on June 9, 2025, I once more contacted Ms. Robertson as to the status of the summary report, which I had been told, a year previously, was “being prepared currently”. I was told on July 3, 2025 that she was discussing the matter with the provider and would “continue those conversations and work to ensure” a provision of the summary as soon as she has access to it.

I responded as follows:

“I consider the refusal to release even a redacted version of the technical report that was submitted to Council, as if every word in that report, every “and” and “but”, is proprietary, as excessive withholding of information.

I remind you again that in her interview with the Cochrane Eagle on June 5, 2023, Ms. Petrunić, the President and CEO of CUTRIC, at the launch of the study had promised that “what Cochrane citizens get is a very detailed, technical report”.

As a Cochrane citizen who unwittingly contributed through my taxes to that study, grounded in the nonsense of ‘fighting’ climate change, I submit that CUTRIC should be requested to give back our money spent on this study for failing to deliver what ‘Cochrane citizens’ were promised.”