The Canadian Brownfields Network (CBN) is launching several initiatives to revisit and update the 15 year old National Round Table on the Environment and the Economy’s (NRTEE) report. The first of these is a comprehensive survey of brownfield stakeholders.
The NRTEE report was a federally-instigated project designed to look at improving the economic viability of brownfield redevelopment, and resulted in 13 recommendations. The CBN survey, undertaken with Ryerson University and funded jointly by CBN and Mitacs, will reach out to the Canadian brownfields community. They are seeking input on how brownfields reuse has changed as a result of the report, how well the recommendations have been implemented, new barriers that may have arisen and old barriers that still exist.
“We want to know how the industry’s experience across Canada has changed as a result of NRTEE,” said CBN president Grant Walsom, partner in XCG Consulting Ltd. “How successful has the implementation of the recommendations been in making brownfields a more desirable choice for redevelopment, what still needs to be done and what tools could be developed to continue forward momentum in the sector?”
According to Walsom, familiarity with the NRTEE report is not required to understand and respond to the survey. For those who are interested, the report is available through the CBN home page.
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The survey’s primary investigator, Ryerson University PhD candidate Reanne Ridsdale, outlined the survey process. “First, participation in the survey is entirely voluntary and responses will be kept confidential. Although we’re asking for identifying information, this is solely for purposes of classification; no personally identifying information will be shared with anyone outside Ryerson,” she said. “We’ll be collecting data until April 15, 2018, and will then analyze responses for presentation at the CBN conference on June 13, 2018.”
“Stakeholders who have been working in brownfields for several years – governments, consultants, developers, remediation solution providers and others – from all geographic areas of Canada are invited to complete the survey,” Walsom said. “We want to ensure the widest possible coverage from everyone involved,” he added.
“Once the survey results are in and have been analyzed, Reanne and I will be presenting them at CBN’s 2018 conference,” said Prof. Chris De Sousa, Director of Ryerson’s School of Urban and Regional Planning, a CBN board member, and Ridsdale’s faculty supervisor. Walsom said, “The presentation by Ryerson will form the basis of the afternoon’s discussion at the conference; at the end of it all, we’ll have a set of actions we can take to ensure future progress of the brownfield agenda.”
Anyone interested in completing the survey should contact the CBN office by email at info@canadianbrownfieldsnetwork.ca.
For more information and to learn about the Canadian Brownfields Network, visit: www.canadianbrownfieldsnetwork.ca
Related Brownfields Training Course
Learn more about new rules governing contaminated sites, excess soils, risk assessment and liability at the Brownfields 2018: Regulation, Liability & Best Practices course on May 8th in Vaughn Ontario. Held as part of the 26th annual CANECT Environmental compliance and due diligence training event. Click here to see more course information.
