I have serious concern about…

I have serious concern about Repeal of the Toxics Reduction Act. Such action will reduce the overall safety of Ontarians by reducing the accountability of industries that use or produce substances harmful to the environment and to human health, or that release such substances as byproducts. Since provinces claim primary jurisdiction over things like mining, industry, agriculture and environment, moving accountability to the federal government simply creates distance between polluters and the agencies responsible for monitoring and enforcing compliance, while reducing the availability of direct information required from industry. Many chemicals released into the environment are stable and dangerous over decades or centuries. Some have consequences that are unknown at the time of their introduction. If the profits generated by the use, production or release of toxics are not sufficient to cover the cost of accountability, then there is a strong argument that their use is unjustified. Short term productivity alone does not justify the potential fouling of water and soil resources, nor compromising of future safe drinking water, abundant and safe food production, and clean air. If the Ontario government absolves itself of regulatory oversight of the environment, Ontarians are destined to pay the costs in personal health (e.g. E. coli poisoning in Walkerton, high rates of respiratory and cardiac illness in north Hamilton), in tax dollars for health care, in massive costs for remediation, and in the general social and economic costs of degrading our collective resource base.

I am also very concerned about the hypocrisy of repealing a protective bill on the justification that the federal legislation will cover the same ground in over two years! How could anyone consider removing vital protection now on the promise that something will come down the pipeline. Would we, for example, close a water treatment plant for two years because a better plant is promised for then? It is absurd to include a repeal of this importance in an omnibus bill; it should be removed and, if justified, be debated as a critical separate piece of legislation once harmonization is complete.