Aug 14, 2008 - 02:47 PM

By Keith Gilligan

AJAX -- Mayor Steve Parish is joining municipal leaders from across Canada in British Columbia to learn about sustainable communities.

The Federation of Canadian Municipalities has been leading its Sustainable Communities Mission for 13 years, primarily to European countries. This is the first time the FCM is touring Canadian communities.

"We're doing a number of things -- LEED-certified (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) buildings, using hybrids, our waterfront, in terms of water quality," Mayor Parish said for his wanting to go on the tour. "We want to put Ajax on a very environmentally-friendly, sustainable track."

Mayor Steve Parish will be in B.C. for 10 days, having left on Thursday. The FCM tour runs five days and the other five will be personal time.

"There's a number of communities doing these types of things, with transit, waste management, water quality and LEED-certified building. These are things we're going or want to get into more," the mayor said.

"A lot of participants from across the country will be there. It's an opportunity to network with them. We can see best practices, what works, what doesn't, so we don't have to reinvent the wheel," Mayor Parish said.

He learned about the tour through FCM, which was "advertising it as a tour they were doing, tours of sustainable communities."

FCM was looking for both politicians and staff interested in attending the event.

Louise Parks, an Oshawa councillor, is also going.

FCM is covering some of the expense and he's using his conference budget to cover the rest of the cost.

The tour begins on Aug. 17 in Vancouver, when more than 30 municipal representatives tour the Southeast False Creek Olympic Village, Whistler Athletes' Village and Victoria's Dockside Green.

There will be information about energy and environmental policies and strategies; sustainable transportation; remediation of brownfield sites (previously developed but since abandoned properties); infrastructure design and efficiency; and, sustainable water and waste management.

On Aug. 18, there's a tour of Vancouver's Sustainable Transportation Showcase, followed by a trip to the National Works Yard, home to one of the first buildings in Canada to receive LEED Gold Certification.

Delegates will spend Aug. 19 touring the Southeast False Creek and Olympic Village Sustainability Project. They will also visit the Metro Vancouver Waste-to Energy facility in Burnaby.

The mission travels to the District of Squamish, a community where conservation is an imperative, on Aug. 20. They'll also visit Whistler and tour the Whistler Public Library and the Olympic Athletes' Village.

The mission moves to Vancouver Island on Aug. 21 and tours the Gulf Islands National Park Reserve Operations Centre, a LEED-platinum building. They'll also visit Dockside Green, a one-of-a-kind sustainable community development still under construction in Victoria's inner harbour.

The tour wraps up Aug. 22 with site visits to the city's Roundhouse Project, Railyards Project and the Selkirk Waterfront Community.

Past FCM missions have traveled to countries including Finland, Denmark, the Netherlands, Sweden, Germany and England.