JR
John Rousseau
Director · Regional District of Okanagan-Similkameen
Area F (Faulder) 34 yrs
About
Builder, industrial designer master joiner. Survived the bald range fire and look forward to helping my neighbours rebuild.
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.
✓
Protect and restore ecosystems, which are essential to human survival, health, and economic well-being.
Supportive
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Expand and protect tree canopy, parks, and green infrastructure to cool neighbourhoods, clean air, and manage stormwater.
Neutral
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!).
✓
Advocate to improve regional public transit between communities.
Supportive
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Build bike and roll networks that are safe for everyone.
Neutral
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Expand EV charging infrastructure.
Neutral
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.
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Implement water conservation plans and educate the public to conserve drinking water.
Neutral
✓
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.
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Implement zero waste bylaws to divert organic waste and recyclables from disposal.
Neutral
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Support the development of a circular economy to eliminate waste and improve resilience.
Neutral
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Implement bylaws to eliminate waste from new buildings, renovation, and demolition projects and to use existing buildings as efficiently as possible.
Neutral
✓ 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?
In 2023 we constructed the first step five house in the RDOS. Thick walls full of lots of insulation coupled with an intelligent heating and cooling system augmented with a super tight envelope allowed us to create a house that costs little to no money in the winter to heat and little to no money in the summer to cool. The house survived the Bald Range fire and due to its super tight envelop was not negatively impacted by smoke.
Questions for Regional District of Okanagan-Similkameen
Transportation is the largest source of climate pollution in the RDOS. What specific policies do you most support and will work for to address transportation emissions, including improved public transit, and safe walking and biking?
People need to be able to get to and from work I'm supportive of public transit.
How will you approach land use and housing policies to ensure that people of all income levels—including low-income residents—have access to safe, affordable homes that are also resilient to a changing climate?
I am a huge advocate for sustainable development. The regional district needs to work with the province and the feds in order to break out new obvious and convenient land for development. We also need to work with private landholders in order to develop the last few parcels of low hanging fruit that we have in the valley from a Land perspective. Another approach that our provincial government has taken a step towards is further densifying, the beautiful land that we already have in order to accommodate carriage houses, and secondary suites. The regional district has not gone far enough in our area in order to support this type of growth. This growth improves our tax base and employees highly skilled workers who bring home great paycheques to their families. This growth also improves the quality of the vendors in our area which further supports our service industry. People need somewhere to live. The regional District needs to get out of the way. The red tape and bureaucracy is strangling this industry, and I am embarrassed at the rate of growth that we have in our communities.
AI data centres use a lot of energy and water. What will be your approach if an AI data centre is proposed for your Area?
There's a common misconception that when somebody uses water that it disappears from the water equation. For instance, when I wash my hands in my home, the water comes out of my well I touch it as it goes by, It enters my septic field and returns to the ground losing roughly 5-10% to evaporation. We need to be very careful to not confuse water kidnapping from water use. If a giant truck showed up and sucked all the water out of the ground sending it off to another community or country, now you've got my attention. If there are value adding industries that are touching the water as it goes by then I am 100% supportive of those industries as the benefit that they add to our community outweighs their water use.
The RDOS is vulnerable to many climate-related risks (e.g. wildfire, drought, smoke, flooding, heat, local supply chains). How will you address these risks to support our community’s resilience?
I would suggest that we offer incentives for victims of wildfire to rebuild using smart, fire resistant materials. The fire risk in our area is very real. Even after this burn I am seeing massive deposits of pine straw all over the ground underneath these cooked pine trees. We need to offer simple solutions to homeowners which will enable them to potentially store rain water in underground cisterns which can be deployed on their house and yard in the event of a catastrophe like the bald range fire. A few simple sprinklers on our roof lines could've made all the difference on August 7.
If you wish to clarify or add information you may use this space (250 word limit).
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