City Hall: Bob Hunter McDonald’s Environment Days?

Cross-posted from Eye Daily.

When I arrived at City Hall yesterday, members of council’s Public Works and Infrastructure Committee were discussing changing the name of the city’s Community Environment Days to “Bob Hunter Community Environment Days.” The new name would commemorate the environmentalist and journalist who, among many other things, co-founded Greenpeace and lead a successful campaign to ban commercial whaling. Many Torontonians may also remember him as Eye Weekly‘s environment columnist, City TV’s environment reporter or the man with the ponytail on Breakfast Television who provided commentary on the daily news while wearing his housecoat.

Suffice it to say, it’s a fitting tribute, and one that Council’s green advocate Glen DeBaeremaeker supported with gusto (though, I’ve got to say, there seems to be very little that DeBaeremaeker supports half-heartedly.) Not long after taking my seat, he launched in to a speech about how Hunter was the Albert Einstein of the environment movement, how Hunter was the reason he was a city councillor today and how, in the future, kids will open their history books to a picture of Hunter standing in front of a whale with harpoons being shot at it. “Hunter taught me the art of the 20 second sound bite,” DeBaeremaeker said after nearly 5 minutes of talking. Not surprisingly, this statement was followed by a chorus of chuckles. After a brief pause, he continued, “and I’m still perfecting it today, 20 years later.”

The next item up for discussion: whether or not to seek corporate sponsorship for Environment Days! First, Rod Muir of Waste Diversion Ontario (the guy that ran for mayor with pieces of garbage often stuck to his tie) ranted about how the city’s Environment Days represent corporate welfare, how only one percent of residents actually participate in the events to dispose of old paint, medication, batteries and other toxic substances that should be diverted from landfill. “The manufacturers who put these things on the market, they should pay for their disposal,” he said. It was a good point, though a bit above and beyond the issue at hand.

It was Jane Pittfield’s successor, John Parker, who first pointed out the ridiculousness of having corporations play more prominent roles in these events. A “Bob Hunter General Motors Environment Day” would be confusing for the public he argued. Shelley Carroll agreed. “I don’t want to end up having a McDonald’s Environment Day in my ward,” she said.

The harshest criticism, however, came from Councillor Janet Davis. “Where do we start drawing the line?” she asked. “Nothing seems sacrosanct. Our subways are full of ads; our buses aren’t even recognizable anymore; we’re about to put ads all over the city on our new street furniture. Let’s stop this uncontrolled appetite for private resources.”

The final verdict: Bob Hunter Environment Days win the committee’s support. Corporate sponsorship of the events looses by a landslide.

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