ABSTRACT

A summary of what has transpired since the delegation to Town Council on February 18, 2025 when a request was made for a councillor to step forward with a motion to remove the town from its membership in the Partners for Climate Protection (PCP) program, is followed up with an explanation how the town’s Natural Environment Protection (NEP) Task Force handled this hot potato.

At the June 23, 2025 Regular Council meeting, a vote by Council on Councillor Wilson’s ‘motion’ was postponed as a result of Mayor Genung’s proposal to refer it to the town’s NEP Task Force to provide comments for Council’s consideration when the motion is brought back for Council deliberation when it was next to meet on September 8, 2025 after the summer break.

The Recommended Action in the Administration’s report prepared for the August 25, 2025 meeting of the Task Force, was that “The Natural Environment Task Force recommends acknowledging receipt of (Councillor Wilson’s) Notice of Motion without providing a recommendation”.

The argument offered to support such a position rightly pointed out that the matter fell “outside of the Task Force’s approved Terms of Reference”. However, despite that, the Task Force passed a motion recommending to Council that the town maintain its memberships in ICLEI and the PCP program. That happened largely through the influence of two public-at-large task force members supportive of the man-made climate change narrative, who were absent from a previous July 15, 2025 meeting and likely the reason a decision on the matter was deferred at that time to the August meeting.

The big question is how will the Town Council handle this mess when it returns to its Regular Council Meeting on September 8, 2025? What motion will they be voting on, Councillor Wilson’s or the Administration’s version of that motion which bears little resemblance to Councillor Wilson’s original motion?

A previous DWAB blog report on this matter, “Bungled Motion to Remove Town from Partners for Climate Change Program”, along with several updates on the initial post made on July 3, 2025 is available here.

First a recap of what has transpired thus far, before reporting on the latest in this saga when the Natural Environment Protection (NEP) Task Force met on August 25, 2025 to discuss this matter.

After a four-month delay since my delegation to Town Council on February 18, 2025, a motion finally came forward to Council on June 23, 2025 related to my request for a councillor to step forward with a motion to remove the town from its membership in the Partners for Climate Protection (PCP) program.

The ‘motion’ brought forward by Councillor Wilson at the June 23, 2025 Regular Council meeting:
was flawed in several respects.

First off, as apparent from above, the so-called ‘motion’ was actually two motions, which is improper as only a single motion can be entertained, and, for that reason, should have been disallowed. In fact, the Legislative Services branch of the town’s Administration should have ensured that the motion was properly constructed.

As well, a properly worded motion should provide a clear and concise statement of the action proposed. Ambiguity or complex phrasing should be avoided. That was not the case, as the ‘motion’, particularly the first of the two motions, did not clearly align with i) the intent of the author, Councillor Wilson, emphasizing in his opening words that his “notice of motion is withdrawal from the ICLEI and PCP programs”, ii) the same understanding of several of the Council members at the meeting, and iii) with Administration’s description of the agenda item as “Notice of Motion ~ Withdrawal from ICLEI and PCP”.

At the June 23, 2025 Regular Council meeting a vote by Council was postponed as a result of Mayor Genung’s proposal to have the first of the two motions, referred to the town’s Natural Environment Protection (NEP) Task Force to provide comments for Council’s consideration before the motion is brought back for Council deliberation when Council was next to meet in September after the summer break

I subsequently wrote a Letter to Town Council on July 4, 2025 with a copy to Ms. Jaylene Robertson, Director, Legislative & Administrative Services, and Ms. Stacey Loe, Executive Director, Corporate Services, expressing my dissatisfaction with how this shoddy affair was handled. I received no reply from Legislative Services to my question why they did not intervene when proper procedures were not followed in dealing with this ‘motion’?

The NEP Task Force met on July 15, 2025. The task before the Task Force related to Councillor Wilson’s motion was described in the report prepared by the town’s  Administration for that agenda item.

The “Background” portion of that report explained, “At the June 24, 2025, Regular Council meeting, a Notice of Motion was brought forward by Councillor Wilson proposing that the Town of Cochrane withdraw its membership from ICLEI –Local Governments for Sustainability and the Partners for Climate Protection (PCP) program”.
Accordingly, the options put before the Task Force were:
Option 1: Recommend to Council that withdrawal from ICLEI and the PCP program is appropriate at this time.
Option 2: Recommend to Council that the Town maintain its memberships in ICLEI and the PCP program.
Option 3: Acknowledge receipt of the Notice of Motion without providing a recommendation.

When it came to this agenda item, the Task Force decided to defer the discussion to a later date in August because not all members were present for the discussion, particularly, two of the four public-at-large task force members, namely, Mr. Robin Wentzel and Ms. Jennifer Janzen, were absent that evening, and they felt it important that all members be present to discuss this matter.

On July 17, 2025 an email was sent to Michelle Delorme, Director, Parks & Active Living, with respect to her report for agenda item 4b (Notice of Motion Withdrawal from ICLEI & PCP ~ RES #138/06/25) provided for Cochrane’s Natural Environment Protection (NEP) Task Force meeting that was held on July 15, 2025. That note went into detail with respected to Administration’s flawed recasting of the Notice of Motion motion submitted by Councillor Wilson on June 23, 2025. The two members of Town council, Alex Reed and Morgan Nagel, who are members of the NEP Task Force, were copied, and Mr. Reed, who chairs the Task Force, was asked to forward my comments on to the other members of the NEP Task Force.

As Ms. Delorme in her report had indicated that “that the Town of Cochrane is currently listed as a member in…ICLEI”, she was asked to confirm if that, in fact, was the case as I was unaware of that.

Having subsequently determined through communication with ICLEI-Canada that the Town of Cochrane is not a member of ICLEI, on July 28, 2025, an email, with copies to Councillor Nagel, Councillor Wilson and Michelle Ambrose (formerly, Delorme), was sent to Councillor Reed, asking him to advise the other members of the NEP Task Force of this. Because of the overall bungled mess, it was suggested that “it would be improper for the task force to participate in this fiasco, and, hopefully, it will make that clear to the Administration (seemingly, Option 3 of the 3 options offered, namely, “Acknowledge receipt of the Notice of Motion without providing a recommendation”) for its communication to Town Council when the Notice of Motion is once more considered by Town Council in September.”

In my July, 28, 2025 email, I also reminded Mr. Reed, as I had previously done in my Letter to Town Council on July 4, 2025, that just as he had observed at the June 23, 2025 Regular Council Meeting, that the task of looking at this matter “goes well beyond the environmental task force  initiatives”, such a position conforms with the purpose of the NEP Task Force, “To act as an advisory body to Council and Administration, identifying and prioritizing natural areas that should be preserved or restored to protect long-term ecological health”, unless there is a concern of there not being enough carbon dioxide available for the plants to thrive.

Meeting of Natural Environment Protection (NEP) Task Force, August 25, 2025

The Recommended Action as per the Administration’s report prepared for agenda item 4a (Notice of Motion RES #138/06/25 ~ Withdrawal from ICLEI and PCP) was that “The Natural Environment Task Force recommends acknowledging receipt of (Councillor Wilson’s) Notice of Motion without providing a recommendation”, as I had proposed, as well, in my July, 28, 2025 email to Mr. Reed, as chair of the NEP Task Force.

The reason given for that recommendation, that “decisions regarding the Town’s memberships in ICLEI and the PCP program fall outside of Task Force’s approved Terms of Reference”, as Mr. Reed himself had suggested at the June 23, 2025 Council meeting, and as I had pointed out in my communications on July 4 and July 28, 2025, made a lot of sense.

I attended the meeting expecting the task force to follow that logical recommendation. Surprisingly, they did not due to the presence and the influence of two of the four public-at-large task force members, namely, Ms. Jennifer Janzen and Mr. Robin Wentzel, whose absence at the July 15, 2025 was the reason to defer matters until the August meeting. It is noteworthy that “not all members were present for the discussion” was the reason to defer the matter to the August meeting. However, even though, once more, not all members were present, with Councillor Nagel and one public-at-large task force member being absent, this time the discussion was allowed to proceed.

Through the urging of Ms. Janzen and Mr. Wentzel the NEP task force voted to adopt a motion recommending to Council that the Town maintain its memberships in ICLEI and the PCP.  Checking the background of these two members of the task force leads one to understand why the unusual decision by the task force, at odds with its mandate, makes sense.

Task Force member Robin Wentzel works for BBA Consultants which at its web site reveals its Toward Net Zero Plan “to achieve by 2030 to reduce our emissions and help limit global warming to 1.5°C.” As well, BBA’s ESG (environmental, social and governance ) Report speaks of it being “in line with the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)”.

Also important to note that Task Force Member Jennifer Janzen is the Executive Director of Alberta Tomorrow, whose vision is “an informed society actively fostering sustainable futures”, that is, actively promotes goals of the United Nations. In an interview with a representative of the Global Climate Association, an organization committed to global UN sustainable development goals, Janzen discussed her organization’s climate change modules used to ‘educate’ students.

Along with two others she co-authored an article, “Opinion: Alberta’s draft curriculum needs to equip students for climate change” in the Edmonton Journal arguing that “If students are to be at all prepared for…issues that await them in their future, they will need to be instructed…on the worldwide threat posed by human-made climate change”. Is it any surprise that attention to Councillor Wilson’s motion was postponed to allow for their participation in the decision-making? Having Ms. Janzen and Mr. Wentzel weigh in on the matter is akin to asking the likes of Mark Carney, Klaus Schwab, Antonio Guterres, King Charles, Gerald Butts, Elizabeth May, Al Gore, Bill Gates, George Soros, David Suzuki, Neil Young, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Greta Thunberg, to give their opinion on the Town of Cochrane maintaining its membership in the PCP program.

In addition to the recommended action, the Administration’s report offered two other options:
Option 2: Recommend to Council that withdrawal from ICLEI and the PCP program is appropriate at this time.
Option 3: Recommend to Council that the Town maintain its memberships in ICLEI and the PCP program.

Inexplicable as to why these options included a reference to “membership in ICLEI” since the Background to this report declared, “Recently, Administration was able to confirm that the Town of Cochrane is not currently a member of the general ICLEI Canada membership”, thereby correcting a statement in Administration’s report for the previous meeting July 15, 2025 Task Force meeting.

Overall, Administration continues to offer up a flawed misrepresentation of Councillor Wilson’s motion made at the Regular Council meeting on June 23, 2025. A side-by-side comparison, as shown below, of Councillor Wilson’s motion with Administration’s version of that motion illustrates how the latter misrepresents what was said in the former.
So, as well, we have a situation where the NEP Task Force was asked to respond to Administration’s version of Councillor Wilson’s motion that bears little resemblance to that original motion.

According to the Background from the Administration’s report prepared for the August 25, 2025 meeting of the NEP Task Force, “At the June 24, 2025, Regular Council meeting, a Notice of Motion was brought forward by Councillor Wilson proposing that the Town of Cochrane withdraw its membership from ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability and the Partners for Climate Protection (PCP) program”. I don’t know how one can read that or come to that conclusion from what is actually said in Councillor Wilson’s motion.

The big question is how will the Council handle this mess when it returns to its Regular Council Meeting on September 8, 2025? What motion will they be voting on, Wilson’s or the Administration’s version of that motion?