Ottawa aiming to be a great place to be a bee

It has a triple-Acredit rating and an O-Train, but Ottawa could soon become a "Bee City."

The city's environment committee voted Tuesday to ask staff to get busy on a bid to addOttawa to the list of Canadian municipalities that are officially friendly to the fuzzy, flying insects.

Coun.Catherine McKenneyput forward themotion Tuesday, and it was seconded by Coun. Keith Egli.

According to Bee City Canada's website, participatingcommunitiesmust commit to creating, maintaining and/or improving pollinator habitat, educating thecommunity about the importance of pollinators, and celebrating pollinators during international pollinator week or other times.

The motion passed Tuesday directs staff to look into what it'll take to complywith the Bee City program, analyze specific actions and budget requirements, and bring a report to the environment committee no later than the end of the first quarter of 2019 onwhether or not to pursue it.

Online petition

Toronto was named Ontario'sfirst Bee City in 2016, and was soon followed by Stratford, Kawartha Lakes, St. Catharines, Whitby, Kitchener, Waterloo, Niagara Falls,Newmarket andAjax.

Guelph becamethe 19th and most recent inductee into the program earlier this summer.

The push for Ottawa to earn its stripes comes three weeks after citycorporate services employeeDinahRobinson, who keeps beesin her spare time and plans to sell honey, created an online petition callingon Ottawato become a Bee City.

The petition also asks for the city to "take the sting out of urban beekeeping" by "recognizing that urban beekeeping is an important part of the city's food security strategy," and"increasing pollinator gardens and the maintenance of existing greenspaces," among other things.

The petition had about 1,170 signatures as of earlyTuesday afternoon.

Robinson's petition said shewould co-ordinate the project and that "no funding will be required from the city."