NDP urges action on Environment Commissioner’s report

October 21, 2008

NDP urges action on Environment Commissioner’s report

Queen’s Park
"The report indicates that we are in the midst of an energy crisis, a water crisis and a climate change crisis," said Tabuns, the NDP's environment critic. "The report says that Ontarians have been lulled into a ‘false sense of security’ because of all the government programs, but that many of these programs are not working." The report outlined the following flaws in the McGuinty government’s environment programs: · The Environment Assessment process fails to address whether a project is actually needed, and is so biased in favour of project approval that only two of 64 projects have been refused since 1996; · Water-bottling companies are allowed to pump millions of litres of water from watersheds practically for free (one cent per 3,000 litres); · The Air Quality Index understates air quality problems because monitoring stations are placed away from sources of pollution and there is no "street-level" monitoring system; · There is no law in Ontario that obligates government to monitor or conserve biodiversity. "This report is a clarion call for real action to protect the environment and human health," said Tabuns. "Ontario has fallen behind other jurisdictions in areas where it used to lead. Thirty years ago its Environment Assessment process was visionary; now it is so limited and weak that it almost constituted a predetermined approval in favour of developers and other companies. The Air Quality Index, which used to be leading edge, lacks basic street-level monitoring that is conducted in cities such as London and Paris."

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