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Question 1: How will climate change affect Gananoque's Tourism Industry?
Answer: Gananoque is a picturesque town that is located on the shores of Lake Ontario.It relies heavily on tourism during its summer months to support its business and the local people they employ.With the onset of global warming it could produce a positive benefit to our area.The increased temperatures could bring in more people seeking relieve for the heat in larger centers, flocking to Gananoque to partake in its vibrant water front. Boat cruises, fishing, swimming, and Nature trails could be enticing to those looking for a weekend getaway from the congested cities.
Statistics taken from the 2015 report on the regional investment profile of Gananoque (http://www.gananoque.ca/sites/gananoque.ca/files/Regional%20Profile%202013.pdf), and a Queen's university report “Sustainability of tourism in Gananoque“ (https://ensc430.files.wordpress.com/2013/08/tourism2012.pdf) statistics indicate a significant spike in the number of tourists and money flooding into the town. This has been a Steady increase over the past 5 years which corresponds with the rise in average temperatures. In larger urban centres this increase in temperature is often accompanied by higher level of smog, and smog related illnesses, an issue which Gananoque does not have.
Question 2: How will this climate change affect the people who call Gananoque home all year?
Answer: The possible increase in traffic could mean more money for local business such as hotels, restaurants, and specialty shops. More business could in turn lead to more jobs, job security, and a better quality of life for Gananoque Residents.
Question 3: How will climate change affect the agricultural sector in the Gananoque area?
Answer: The increase in growing days will provide local farmers with longer growing seasons, which can provide a greater crop yield and greater profit. There were 203 growing days in 2010 and predicted an extra 16 days becoming growing season days by 2020, and 30 more by 2050. Farmers accustomed to one harvest a year may even see two. However there is a catch, with more growing days comes more extremely hot days resulting in higher probability of crop failure.
Question 4: How can this climate change impact municipalities?
Answer: With winter’s getting warmer, there could be a reduction in the requirement for muncipilaties to spend money on road salting, plowing, and other winter maintences. For example the city of Toronto spent over $85 million on salting and plowing roads in the winter of 2014. Money could be moved around and spent more on other issues such as wildlife reservation, and cleaning up the town. Obviously Gananoque does not have $85 million to spend a year, but i still believe there is some money to be saved.
Question 5: How will the Ontario Government attack or capitalize the issue?
Answer: I have contacted someone from the ministry of tourism from ontario, hopefully they respond soon.
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1 Comment(s)
Look into Prince Edward County, a local township at virtually identical latituide to ours. They have vigorously marketed themselves for agritrouism and are flourishing economically because of it. Find out their major draws - could our area do the same to capitalize on changing climates? Do you have ideas to take things 1 step further for our benefit? Answering this will be part 2 of your climate change project, along with a proposal for what the province should be doing about climate change in Ontario. Nice work so far!
Major Draws:
- One of Prince Edward County's biggest selling points is their growing wine industry (40+ wineries) and "county" culture. The county is known as "The Garden County" and it encourages people to come and visit the local farms and vineyards and to try and buy the locally grown foods, because of this many farms, vineyards, and other food related businesses such as restaurants, cafes,and such are flourishing in the area. Another interesting aspect is that almost the entire county is surrounded by water (800 km of shoreline) what they describe as an "island pace", making lots of swimming available no matter where you are, also boat tours much like we do.
Draws: Good agricultural business, and lots of water.
Could our area?:
- Thriving Agricultural Business: I have noticed after many years of living in the Leeds and thousand islands is that many businesses come and go. I believe it would be somewhat difficult to make our new businesses more successful, the most we could do is encourage local people to shop and eat in town more instead of going to other counties or perhaps the states. We have the same growing conditions as Prince Edward County and we could definitely do the same if money and time were invested into it. We have the farmers, and the land, but i think to really sell it to people we would need help from the municipal townships to make it a key selling point for our area.
- Water: Much like our own county, and like almost all along Lake Ontario, Prince Edward County offers boat tours around the lake to showcase our area's natural beauty and many islands on the lake. This is a similarity we share with them as our county is known for boat tours, to fully capitalize this market we could perhaps implement more tours, perhaps every few hours instead of every 3 or 4 hours, and make the tours as luxurious as possible.
Proposal: i think that the most direct way for Ontario to tackle climate change is by focusing on development of cleaner, renewable sources. Our government could encourage this by having tax reductions for people that use solar, or wind power, and also rebates/incentives for people that use electric cars. The government could place more electric charging station for those who choose electric cars over gas. Another option is to give tax credits to companies that choose to go green and reduce their footprint, and new companies and corporations to set up in Ontario that are environmentally friendly.
Tim
May 13, 2016