January 2017 | Business View Magazine

114 115 Green Communities Canada environmental and livable community reasons, but that municipal and provincial and federal governments are going to get onto for the eco- nomic reasons. ” Regarding its own economy, Maynes says that he and his staff of about a dozen people are funded for the individual projects and programs they develop from a variety of government and non-government sources, and, wherever possi- ble, from fees for services delivered. For exam- ple, in the past, a significant source of revenue for Green Communities Canada came from the energy audits it performed. But the previous fed- eral government stopped the program, so now any income for audits comes from local utility compa- nies–but at a much lower quantity. “The way we’ve managed to accomplish what we’ve accomplished to date, is basically by scrambling, re-inventing ourselves constantly as issues change, being innovative, etc.,” says Maynes. “I don’t see that changing fundamen- tally in the very near future. We don’t have core funding and I don’t expect that we will. The programs that do fund us tend to come and go. There may be some opportunities associated with Canada’s commitment to Climate Action, which at the national level and our province here in Ontario, has been ramping up. We’re waiting to hear what happens there, including the possible re-establishment of the kind of retrofit incentive program that we previously had, that was a core business for us for a long period of time. “We continue to be very entrepreneurial in response to the opportunities that come up– who might pay and why they might pay. Our sector understands the need to scramble. Being green is an important motivation, but it’s rarely sufficient motivation in and of itself to be the primary driver for public support.”