Isaac Gilbert

Council · Penticton

Penticton 10 yrs

About

Issac Gilbert is currently a city councillor for the City of Penticton. Before he was elected to council he was park ranger for BC Parks and was the chair of the parks and recreation committee for the City of Penticton.

Policy commitments

Buildings

We all want healthy, affordable, and comfortable homes. These policies will help to lower energy bills, cut pollution, and improve indoor air quality.

✓ Support electrification of new buildings. Supportive

✓ Incentivize renewable energy, battery storage, and smart-grid technologies in new and existing buildings to improve energy security. Supportive

✓ Scale up energy retrofits for existing homes, businesses, and public buildings. Supportive

Ecosystems

The air we breathe, the water we drink, and the food we eat all rely on healthy ecosystems. Nature can also help protect our community from extreme weather by controlling floods, protecting shorelines, and cooling neighbourhoods. Access to nature improves the health and well-being of residents, and supports biodiversity.

✓ Expand and protect tree canopy, parks, and green infrastructure to cool neighbourhoods, clean air, and manage stormwater. Supportive

✓ Create connected urban greenways for people and wildlife. Supportive

Land Use

We envision vibrant, walkable communities that protect nature and improve food security.

✓ Build affordable homes near jobs, schools, shops, and transit. Supportive

✓ Upgrade critical infrastructure for heat, fire, flood, and storm resilience. Supportive

✓ Increase food security by supporting local agriculture and community gardens. Supportive

Transport

Connecting neighbourhoods through public transit and active transportation networks will cut pollution, improve public health, and make our communities more affordable (and fun!).

✓ Deliver reliable, frequent, affordable local transit. Supportive

✓ Advocate to improve regional public transit between communities. Supportive

✓ Build bike and roll networks that are safe for everyone. Supportive

Watersheds

Climate change, increasing populations, and overconsumption threaten our water security. Healthy watersheds and forests are critical to support clean drinking water, stormwater management, climate resilience, and biodiversity for future generations.

✓ Implement water conservation plans and educate the public to conserve drinking water. Supportive

✓ Protect and restore watersheds as vital municipal infrastructure. Supportive

Zero Waste

Zero waste policies reduce pollution, keep waste out of landfills, build resilient local economies, and safeguard public health by shifting society away from a disposable culture toward a sustainable circular economy.

✓ Implement zero waste bylaws to divert organic waste and recyclables from disposal. Supportive

✓ Support the development of a circular economy to eliminate waste and improve resilience. Supportive

✓ Implement bylaws to eliminate waste from new buildings, renovation, and demolition projects and to use existing buildings as efficiently as possible. Supportive

✓ Supportive

~ Neutral

× Opposed

– No response

Climate action

How have you contributed to climate action in your community through advocacy, past work, advisory committees, volunteer work, and/or reducing your personal carbon footprint?

Personally I walk and bike as much as I can for groceries, meetings, and for play. When it is cold I try to use transit as much as I can. As a councilor for the City of Penticton, I have supported the Urban Tree Master Plan, increase to transit service, and the creation of a micro grid for the city of Penticton. In the past I have been a park ranger protecting the natural environment in parks and I was the chair of the parks and recreation committee for the City of Penticton before council.

Questions for Penticton

Transportation is Penticton's largest source of climate pollution. How can we decrease reliance on gas vehicles and improve how people get around the city using low emission transport (e.g. walking, biking, carpooling, bus/transit, EV)?

We need to continue to build sidewalks in the city and increase bus service, locally and regionally. I will support the continuation of youth free transit to build the culture of transit riders in the City of Penticton and the increase of regional services.

Penticton Council adopted a Community Climate Action Plan in November 2021. How will you prioritize actions and set timelines to move the plan forward this term?

I believe the focus should be on what we can control. I supported a micro grid for the City of Penticton to shave the peak and make electricity more affordable and continue to support housing to have bike storage and electric chargers. I want to review the electric buyback program for solar for their housing, to create more of an incentive for people to purchase solar for their homes. These would help further our goals at reducing emissions.

Resilience is about being ready for unexpected shocks. Along with emergency response, what long-term planning measures would you recommend to protect our community from the impacts of increasingly severe weather events and wildfires?

I want to explore a partnership with the spink ’tin Indian band on a community forest corporation to thin the forests around our city and the band to be more resilience to forest fires. Not only will this help safeguard our communities from fires, it will also help bring in revenue to the communities.

How will you balance immediate local priorities—like housing, jobs, and healthcare—with the need to reduce emissions and protect the environment so we can secure a sustainable future for our children?

I put forward a motion previously at council to work with the Youth Climate Corps and I want to push for this initiative if reelected. This will bring in green jobs for youth in the city and also allow the city to access grants from the program to help reduce labour costs in the budget. I am hoping we will get another report and recommendation from staff For the Zero Carbon Step Code and move to a higher level.

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Authorized by First Things First Okanagan, registered sponsor under LECFA, info@firstthingsfirstokanagan.com

Vote4Tomorrow is an independent voter guide to evaluate where local candidates stand on climate and environmental policies that will affect our future.

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