Environmental protection

Mr. Peter Tabuns: My question to the Minister of the Environment: Yesterday, three leading environmental organizations voiced their opposition to the proposed Open for Business Act. Ecojustice, the Canadian Environmental Law Association and the Canadian Institute for Environmental Law and Policy all say that the act will undermine public participation and the public right to appeal polluting activities in communities.

The McGuinty government talks a lot about increasing transparency. Why is it proposing legislation that would remove citizen rights and reduce accountability on environmentally damaging industrial activities? Why?

Hon. John Gerretsen: I think that those organizations are wrong. This current system has been in place for over 30 years. It is a paper-based system. We think it’s about time to bring those proposals into the 21st century. We think that modernizing our approval system is the right way to go. Over 6,000 applications are made on an annual basis. It’s all on a paper-based system. We believe that our ministry should be involved with the higher-risk situations, rather than taking a look at all of the situation that are out there. That’s what the modernization of approvals is all about. It’s all about bringing our systems that we have been using for over 30 years into the 21st century.

The Speaker (Hon. Steve Peters): Supplementary?

Mr. Peter Tabuns: Minister, you’re well aware that this has nothing to do with your moving from paper to Commodore 64. This is a question of whether or not people have rights to comment on environmental regulation. The press release from the environmental groups is very clear: The proposed act weakens accountability. The government will no longer be required to take the public’s views into account before environmental decisions are finalized. Maybe your staff didn’t brief you on this part of the act, but you need to be aware of it.

While reducing public rights to comment on industrial activities, the McGuinty government is increasing business rights through a new registry that allows companies to comment on new regulations impacting them. Is this what open for business means? More power for businesses to veto regulations and less rights for the public to protect their communities? Is that what is on the—

The Speaker (Hon. Steve Peters): Thank you. Minister?

Hon. John Gerretsen: Anyone can make comments with respect to anything that goes into the registry—not just businesses—including the environmental community.

I would just like to put it to the member this way: There are sometimes applications that take about a year and a half to get the required certificates of approval, yet these organizations, these businesses are operating during that period of time. That is wrong. What we should be concerned about within the Ministry of the Environment or within society are the environmental outcomes. We believe that the environmental outcomes that we’re dealing with are better served under a modernized system in which the ministry and in which we as a society look at the most important high-risk activities. That’s what this is all about. We want to bring the system into the 21st century. Most of the people out there agree with us, and I’m sure that in time, the environmental community will—

The Speaker (Hon. Steve Peters): Thank you. New question.