Lt. Governor Elizabeth Dowdeswell chairs round table in Peterborough on climate change

Lieutenant Governor Elizabeth Dowdeswell met Wednesday with a number of Peterborough-area stakeholders at city hall to discuss how communities can better work together to meet the challenges of sustainability and climate change.

Dowdeswell’s visit focused on the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities. As the Crown’s representative in Ontario, the Lieutenant Governor promotes a strong and positive civic community.

In the 1980s, she served as assistant deputy minister with Environment Canada with responsibility for the Atmospheric Environment Service and negotiating the Framework Convention on Climate Change. At the round table, the lieutenant governor spoke about the importance of not trying to separate climate change from other responsibilities but rather to think holistically.

“The climate is equally connected to economic prosperity and it’s connected to social cohesion as well so how you connect all of those dots to create a community that is going to be resilient in the face of change,” said Dowdeswell.

Peterborough Mayor Diane Therrien played host at the round table, that consisted of local stakeholders in Peterborough environmental causes.

Therrien says Dowdeswell is very interested in municipal politics, referring to it as the ‘lost level’ of government that people aren’t always paying attention to.

Therrien also urged the city to form partnerships with Trent University and Fleming College to bring young people into the process of forming a local plan to deal with climate change.

“(Dowdeswell) had a lot of interesting stories from other communities she’s visited that she was able to share with us so we will be able to reach out to some of those and maybe take some of their learnings and implement them here,” said Therrien.

When she was sworn in as lieutenant governor in September 2014, Dowdeswell pledged to engage the people of Ontario, listening to their concerns and ideas.