Environment Minister’s confidence in Site 41 misplaced

The following release has been issued by the Council of Canadians
Liberals to allow prorogation to kill Bill 32
The McGuinty government’s prorogation of the legislature will kill the private member’s bill that would prevent Site 41 in Simcoe County from becoming a landfill. Further eroding the government’s credibility on water issues, Minister of the Environment John Gerretsen’s comments in the legislature this week show that he does not understand the proposed landfill project, says the Council of Canadians.
When confirming that Bill 32 would not survive prorogation, the Minister said in the Ontario legislature that the approval of the site was based on “the best scientific information that’s available”.
“In fact the information Minister Gerretsen is relying on to make his decision has never been peer reviewed and there is ample evidence that this critical information is wrong,” says Maude Barlow, National Chairperson for the Council of Canadians. “The most important data still needs to be released to the public. His Ministry has never seen it but accepts it as proof that toxins from the proposed dump will not contaminate the community’s groundwater. Minister Gerretsen promised to request for the data to be made public last year but he has failed to do so. The community will not be satisfied until all the evidence is transparent.”

Site 41 is located near Elmvale in Ontario and the proposed landfill has been opposed by the local community for more than twenty-five years.  As construction began opposition reached a head and a month-long blockade of construction at the site last summer convinced the Simcoe County Council to pass a resolution prohibiting the use of the site as a county dump.
At the provincial level, Bill 32, introduced by MPP Garfield Dunlop would revoke the Certificate of Approval issued by the MOE that allows the site to be used for landfill. Opponents argue that as long as the Certificate exists, the resolution could be disregarded and the site could be again proposed as a landfill by the County or sold to a private landfill company.
“Senior citizens have put their bodies on the line and been arrested to protect the water for their grandkids. How can the Minister allow this to continue? Whose interests was he elected to protect?” asked Barlow. “The McGuinty government must allow Bill 32 to succeed and the facts surrounding the real impacts of the dump to be made transparent.”
“Our Simcoe region chapter is working hard with the community to protect the purest groundwater ever tested.  They deserve more than government stonewalling,” concluded Barlow