November/December 1996
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November/December 1996 |
by Cyrus Mavalwala
Since its election in June 1995, Ontario's Progressive Conservative Government has been dismantling environmental laws, regulations, policies and institutions. Every aspect of environmental protection and natural resources management in Ontario has been affected from mining and forestry to environmental research and education.
The State of the Great Lakes 1995 report, written by the Canadian and United States Governments, outlines the major stresses adversely affecting the health of the Great Lakes aquatic communities. They include loss of habitat and biodiversity and the impacts of persistent toxic contaminants. The sweeping changes passed by Ontario's Progressive Conservative government will further stress ecosystem health.
Habitat along the Great Lakes' shorelines and in associated wetlands is crucial for many aquatic, terrestrial and avian species. However, Ontario's government has reduced the protection of ecologically significant areas such as wetlands and shorelines through numerous avenues.
Sweeping changes under The Land Planning and Protection Act include rewording of the act. The requirement that planning decisions "be consistent with" provincial planning policy statements has been replaced with the requirement that they "have regard to" provincial policy statements.
Additional amendments will limit the Ministry of Environment and Energy (MOEE) and Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR) participation in planning decisions by allowing their input only when invited by the Ministry of Municipal Affairs. As a result, the first two ministries are curtailing their roles in land use planning. For example, a $3.2 million cut from its 1996-1997 budget will force the MNR to withdraw from its land use planning activities altogether.
Ontario regional conservation authorities have played a key role in shoreline management, habitat conservation and the implementation of Remedial Action Plans. The impact of massive cuts to conservation authorities is compounded by the restrictions imposed through the Governments's Bill 26, the 1996 Savings and Restructuring Act. Bill 26's amendments limit conservation authorities to raising funds for flood control purposes only. These mounting financial pressures may lead to the sale or leasing of authority lands for private or commercial use. Even the temporary leasing of authority lands for commercial use such as golf courses may be catastrophic because the damage to wetlands, shorelines, rivers and streams may be irreversible.
Shoreline restoration and Remedial Action Plan implementation will suffer another setback with the elimination of MOEE's urban and rural beach restoration cleanup programs.
Water pollution is another key stress in Great Lakes aquatic habitats. Main sources of water pollution include effluent from sewage plants and pulp and paper mills. The Clean Water Agency is the principal agency responsible for the funding of municipal sewer and water infrastructure, including construction and upgrading of sewage treatment plants. The provincial government has chosen to eliminate the agency's Municipal Assistance Program with a budget cut of $142 million.
Furthermore, the government's Responsive Environmental Protection report proposes to weaken the province's Municipal-Industrial Strategy for Abatement program. This will be accomplished by eliminating the requirement for pulp and paper mills to plan for zero discharge of organochlorines. When combined with the weakening of monitoring and reporting requirements for various industrial sectors, water pollution is likely to rise.
Since the air is an important pathway for persistent toxic contaminants that enter the Great Lakes, air pollution is a precursor to specific types of water pollution. The Responsive Environmental Protection report proposes a series of measures that may actually increase air contaminants, thereby degrading water quality. Proposals include weakening regulatory controls on both the incineration of hazardous wastes and liquid industrial wastes or their burning as "fuel."
The Conservative government's environmental slash and burn approach has not been confined to ministry programs. The MOEE is losing 31 percent of current employees while the MNR is giving pink slips to 40 percent of its staff. Even if these ministries continue to set nominal standards, their capacity to ensure compliance will be severely diminished if not eliminated.
The above examples of environmental deregulation represent only a sampling of the many changes that have been already made, but unfortunately the worst may be yet to come. The Red Tape Review Commission is mandated to review all of the province's regulations by the end of 1996. Environmental regulations are a major target of the commission's work.
If current trends prevail, the province's future environmental protection functions may resemble a permitting regime for direct discharges of pollutants to air and water. The long-term consequences of this direction for the health of the Great Lakes and surrounding ecosystems are likely to be serious and, in many cases, irreversible.
For more information on environmental deregulation in Ontario or copies of Ontario's Environment and the "Common Sense Revolution" and other CIELAP publications, contact Cyrus Mavalwala, Public Relations Officer, Canadian Institute for Environmental Law and Policy (CIELAP), 517 College Street, Suite 400, Toronto, ON M6G 4A2. Telephone (416)923-3529; fax (416)923-5949; or visit the institute's web site at http://www.web.net/cielap.
Sommaire
Depuis son élection en juin 1995, le gouvernement progressiste-conservateur de l'Ontario abolit des lois, des règlements, des politiques et des institutions axés sur l'environnement. Tous les volets de la protection de l'environnement et de la gestion des richesses naturelles de l'Ontario ont été touchés, depuis l'exploitation minière et forestière jusqu'à la recherche et l'éducation en environnement.
Les habitats situés le long des rives des Grands Lacs et dans les terres humides qui s'y rattachent sont vitaux pour un grand nombre d'espèces aquatiques, terrestres et aviaires. Cependant, le gouvernement de l'Ontario a diminué de multiples façons la protection d'aires importantes sur le plan environnemental, comme les terres humides et les berges.
La réduction aveugle des dépenses au chapitre de l'environnement imposée par le gouvernement conservateur ne se limite pas aux programmes du Ministère. Le ministère ontarien de l'Environnement et de l'Énergie perd 31 p. 100 de ses effectifs à l'heure actuelle, tandis que le ministère des Richesses naturelles doit licencier 40 p. 100 de son personnel. Même si ces deux ministères continuent de fixer des normes minimales, leur capacité d'assurer la conformité avec ces normes sera gravement affaiblie, sinon inexistante.
Si la tendance actuelle se maintient, le rôle de la province dans la protection de l'environnement se limitera peut-être à l'avenir à émettre des permis pour le rejet direct de polluants dans l'air et dans l'eau. Les répercussions à long terme de cette orientation sur l'hygiène de l'écosystème des Grands Lacs et les écosystèmes environnants seront vraisemblablement graves et, dans bien des cas, irréversibles.
Revised: 14 January 1997
Maintained by Kevin McGunagle,
mcgunaglek@ijc.wincom.net