The Ontario government…

The Ontario government should require an environmental review of any and all mining and logging operations, especially in our largely intact northern forest ecosystem. If a proposed operation’s plan has adequate provisions to minimize environmental damage and is approved after the review, the company should be required to put forth a substantial monetary deposit to be held by the government. The deposit would be returned (perhaps with interest) when the operation is complete and the site is remediated to a high standard. This would ensure that those responsible for each site would do the least damage possible. If not, funds would be available for the government to remediate the site. A company that left behind an environmental mess would not get off scot free. Taxpayers would not be penalized by having to foot the bill.