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Sunday May 23 1999 Oakville Beaver Weekend 3 More parks created under Harris governm ent In th e w e e k s le a d in g u p to th e J u n e 3rd p ro v in c ia l e le c tio n , th e O a k v ille B e a v e r w ill b e ru n n in g v ie w p o in ts b y th e O a k v ille r id in g c a n d id a te s on c u rre n t is s u e s ...to d a y th e y re s p o n d to ... ENVIRO NM ENT By Gary Carr PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE CANDIDATE The people of Ontario deserve a elean and healthy environment for themselves and their children. The government has taken practical steps to protect and enhance Ontario's environ­ ment. When it comes to protect­ ing our environment, people have told us they want to see two important changes. First, they want government to crack down hard on compa­ nies that are polluting our land, air and water. Second, they want to make sure that they and their children will be able to enjoy even more of Ontario's natural beauty in the future. The Ministry of the Environment forced St. Lawrence Cement to pur­ chase the "bag house" to eliminate emissions from their plant in Mississauga. That process showed me that we need to give more author­ ity to the Ministry of the Environment and increase the fines for those companies that pollute. I believe we need an envi­ ronmental SWAT team to audit industries to make sure they are obeying the rules. We also need to combine the patch-work of laws into one clear, comprehensive and easy to enforce, set of envi­ ronmental legislation. The government has also announced the "Ontario Living Legacy"- the biggest expansion of parks and pro­ tected areas, including 44 additions to existing parks. That means a total of more than 2.4 million hectares, an area as big as Lake Ontario, will be protected for future generations. It will bring the total of Ontario's provincial parks to 639, the most in any province in Canada. Our "Living Legacy" will create a total of 378 new provincial parks and protected areas for future generations. In fact, this government has now cre­ ated more provincial parks and protected areas than any other government in Ontario's history. The government has also: •created a $200 million Water Protection Fund to help municipalities clean up their water and sewage systems, •started a Great Lake Renewal Foundation with $5 million in seed money, •taken a tough stand on trans-border pollution by tak­ ing to court American com­ panies that are polluting Ontario from bordering states, •begun setting strict emis­ sion standards for Ontario Hydro. The public can be a tremendous resource for pro­ tecting our environment against polluters. I believe we should develop and pro­ mote a toll-free pollution hot­ line for Ontarians to report possible acts of pollution. If we do this and give the min­ istry more authority to enforce regulations, we could have the most effective envi­ ronmental protection in North America. Practical steps such as these will ensure Ontario can have a clean environment while building a strong econ­ omy. Liberals only choice to Keep Ontario Beautiful By Kevin Flynn LIBERAL PARTY CANDIDATE In a recent article, Bob Hunter, City TV's ecology spe­ cialist and co-founder of Greenpeace, declared that if you are concerned about the environment, the only choice is to vote Liberal on June 3rd. During my years on council, I have served as Chair of the Petro-Canada Environmental Advisory Committee. It has been my pleasure to work with representatives from industry and the community to ensure a healthy environment for my constituents. However, protecting our environment has not been a priority of the Harris Government. They see clean air, clean water and clean monitored landfills as being irrelevant. They are willing to compromise the health of the citizens of Ontario under the misguided belief that industry will flock to a locale where no environmental standards are being enforced. A Liberal Government will guarantee that Ontario will be a province that is Open for Business. However, unlike Mike Harris and the Conservatives, we will not let our province be Open to Pollution. Mr. Harris, Mr. Carr and the rest of the Conservative Caucus must be held accountable for their environmental record. Since taking office, Mike Harris and the Conservatives have: • Fired environmental inspectors, weakened environmen­ tal regulations and failed to prosecute polluters. • Watched in silence as Ontario has become the third worst polluter in North America. That's not strong leader­ ship. That's not leadership! • Cut the budget for environmental protection by 42 per cent. • Ignored the fact that the Ontario Medical Association claims 1,800 premature deaths a year now occur in Ontario as a result of air pollution. • Allowed our landfills to become dumping grounds for American hazardous waste because our environment laws are weaker. The slogan on the old Ontario license plates used to read "Ontario, Keep It Beautiful." This sentiment has now (See 'Liberals' page 5) E n v iro n m e n t a p r io r ity fo r N D P By Sean Cain N EW DEMOCRATIC PARTY CANDIDATE The environment has quickly become a major issue in the current Provincial election due to its erosion under the Harris Tories. Past Ontario governments, NDP, Liberal, and Conservative alike, worked with the scientific community to create regula­ tions protecting our ecosystems from industrial pollution. It was the NDP in the early 1990s that passed Ontario's first Environmental Bill of Rights, ensuring proper guidelines to a clean and stable environment. Under the pre­ sent regime, however, this has been made a mockery. Gary Carr and the Conservatives have declared Ontario "open for busi­ ness" to corporate polluters. They have already fired over 750 scientists and officers from the Ministry of the Environment (as well as $306 million of funding) and over 2,000 more per­ sonnel from the Ministry of Natural Resources, all which the Tories insult­ ingly refer to as "red tape." These cuts have curtailed further research, the monitoring and analyzing of new pollu­ tants and the enforcement of environ­ mental laws. For example, fines against polluters went from $3,065,000 in 1995 down to only $955,000 in 1997, giving a green light to industries that refuse to clean up their own pollution. The Conservatives actually admitted that they expect corporations to "self-regu- late" themselves. 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