Kaneera Uthayakumaran isn’t going to let Mississauga’s politicians pass the buck now that a new council has been elected.

During Ontario’s recent municipal elections, the 18-year-old biomedical chemistry student, along with roughly 15 other young Future Majority volunteers, sought to convince politicians in the city west of Toronto to design strong green development standards (GDS).

While the young climate activists stressed the need to improve the city’s voluntary green measures in the lead-up to Monday’s municipal elections, Uthayakumaran says councillors told them it’s up to developers or the province to fix.

“Since we’ve seen other municipalities do it, we’re just trying to advocate further,” she said, noting their core team’s immediate focus has been to raise awareness among residents about why robust green development rules matter.

Future Majority says more than half of the planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions in Mississauga come from its buildings, and that more efficient properties can cut down on emissions while protecting the environment, lowering energy costs and helping create climate-resilient neighbourhoods.

“We’re advocating to ensure that the new proposed standards meet the severity of the climate crisis that we face,” Uthayakumaran said, with petitions and more phone banking in the works “so that they know that this is an issue that we really care about.”

She said Toronto and other cities in the Greater Toronto Area have moved ahead of Mississauga in green ambition with positive results.

Toronto’s city council adopted a net-zero by 2040 climate strategy and sped up its timeline for implementing tougher emission limits so buildings constructed in or after 2030 are near zero emissions.

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