Ontario Hansard - 01-June-2006

WASTE DIVERSION

Ms. Laurie Scott (Haliburton-Victoria-Brock): My question is to the Minister of the Environment. It's an embarrassment and a disgrace that the current government turns a blind eye while we ship our garbage across the border to Michigan. A little over a year ago, January 2005, Gartner Lee consultants reported that the four Ontario municipalities of Durham, Peel, Toronto and York are expected to export 1.25 million tonnes of waste in 2005. Should the Michigan border close, and it's a very possible occurrence, our available capacity for waste disposal was estimated at the most to be 1.7 million tonnes --

The Speaker (Hon. Michael A. Brown): Stop the clock. Minister of Education, you've been warned.

Ms. Scott: Minister, this capacity would be used up within 28.5 weeks. It has been reported that the city of Toronto estimates they can only manage up to two days of storage capacity at their existing transfer stations.
Interjection.

Ms. Scott: To your cottage.
All this government has come forward with so far is a promise that they have an amazing plan. Ontarians deserve a solid answer, and they need one now. We need to know what is happening with our waste before the US House of Representatives passes federal legislation allowing the state of Michigan to ban Canadian garbage.

Hon. Laurel C. Broten (Minister of the Environment): It certainly is a bit rich coming from colleagues on the other side of the House who were in government for more than 10 years and chose not to site any landfills in this province.

Let me tell you a little bit about what we have done in the past period of time since we've been government. We're the first government to fund the blue box program. We've set the standards for organics. I've mandated the WDO to work on household hazardous waste and electronics to build on the success of that blue box program. We're working to reform the EA process, and we'll have some more information with respect to that very soon.

We've also approved proposed expansions of Ottawa's Trail landfill and the municipal landfill in McDougall township. We've had an expansion of the private Lafleche landfill just south of Ottawa. Terms of reference for EAs of more than 10 more landfill projects, including municipal sites in Hamilton, Niagara, Sault Ste. Marie, Algonquin highlands and a private landfill near Niagara Falls have all been approved, and I'll have more to answer my --

The Speaker: Thank you. Supplementary?

Ms. Scott: Minister, now we've found that 160,000 tonnes of sludge will no longer be able to be shipped to Michigan. It's just a taste of the problem we will face when the border closes. Where's the sludge going to go, and what will happen if Toronto does not find a willing host? You've said there have been approvals. Can you say today that the EA process is going to be speeded up? Are the communities going to be forced to take this sludge with just days' notice? What will happen on August 1, when Toronto cannot find a place for their sludge? Will you commit that this sludge will not be sent to an unwilling host community?

Hon. Ms. Broten: I have said for a very long period of time that Toronto has a responsibility to find, site and manage its own waste. Toronto itself is resolved to stop sending its waste to Michigan by 2010. Miss Shelley Carroll, who has responsibility for this in the city, is negotiating at present for the capacity for the city's sludge not to be sent to Michigan. It's Toronto's responsibility to find a location and negotiate a private sector contract to deal with that sludge. I have every confidence, with the close work that they're doing with my ministry as we assist them and provide them with the tools they need to properly manage this waste, that they will meet their responsibilities and that they will locate a private sector location for that sludge.