Ontario Hansard - 29-November2006

WATER AND SEWER INFRASTRUCTURE

Ms. Laurie Scott (Haliburton-Victoria-Brock): My question is to the Minister of the Environment. Today, a sewage report card was released by Sierra Legal. The report states that the city of Toronto spews over 9.9 billion litres of raw sewage into Lake Ontario; Hamilton spews over four billion litres; and Windsor spews nearly two billion litres. London, Sarnia, Sudbury and Kingston are also in the report.

Minister, those are disgraceful numbers. But what is even more appalling is that these are the same cities that are in desperate need of water and waste-water infrastructure repair and have been asking for you to respond to your own Watertight report, which is over 15 months old.

You continue to break your promises, you've refused to answer questions on this important matter and you force the ongoing pollution of our Great Lakes. When will you get to work and respond to the report and begin consultations on regulations with respect to the Water and Sewer Systems Act?

Hon. Laurel C. Broten (Minister of the Environment): It's always rich to hear from my friends opposite, who not only left this province in financial ruin but in an infrastructure deficit and ruin. I always look forward to working with groups like Sierra Legal, which has put this information out. I would say to my friend opposite that on many fronts we are working to ensure the protection of the Great Lakes, because that is a source of drinking water, of economic renewal, of importance to all of us right across the province and certainly to me at home. My own riding, Etobicoke-Lakeshore, is right on Lake Ontario. I look at that lake every single day.

We are doing, on a number of fronts, initiatives to ensure that the Great Lakes are clean and continue to be a source of drinking water. Many of the communities that are mentioned that have not received stellar grades in the Sierra Legal report have been indicated to be upgrading their sewage treatment facilities. I know that the Minister of Public Infrastructure Renewal will look forward to talking about some of those sewage treatment facilities that have been upgraded, because we have put real and significant dollars --

The Speaker (Hon. Michael A. Brown): Thank you. Supplementary.

Ms. Scott: Do you know what's really rich? It's the minister's lack of commitment for the environment. She says she shares the concerns of municipalities.
Interjections.

The Speaker: Stop the clock. Minister of Municipal Affairs. Order. Government House leader. The Minister of Energy. Order. I can wait. The member for Haliburton-Victoria-Brock.

Ms. Scott: It is the minister's lack of commitment for the environment. She says in this quote that she "shares the concerns of municipalities," but the minister and her government have proven time and time again that they are nothing more than paper environmentalists.

Minister, you know it. You will say anything to get elected. You continue to attack Ontarians in rural municipalities by implementing the avoidance of responsibility legislation like the spills bill, like the Clean Water Act, yet you refuse to address the desperate issue of aging infrastructure spewing billions of litres of waste into the Great Lakes --

Interjections.

The Speaker: The Minister of Municipal Affairs will come to order. I'm going to have to remind the government that I need to be able to hear the question. That can't happen if other people are talking or, even worse, loudly interjecting. So I need you to be quiet. The next government member who makes a comment, I will name. The member for Haliburton-Victoria-Brock.

Ms. Scott: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. For the third time, I'll try.
Minister, the Environmental Commissioner's report recommends that you ensure transparency and accountability in the Canadian-Ontario agreement, at which you are failing. Are you willing to do that? Will you call for an independent review of your ministry's involvement into the Canada-Ontario agreement?

Hon. Ms. Broten: I think my friends opposite need a research budget that's a little bit bigger so that they understand what the Canada-Ontario agreement is and can pay attention to the historic things this government has undertaken.

On December 13, 2005, our Premier signed the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River Basin Sustainable Water Resources Agreement -- a virtual ban on diversions, a basin-wide environmental standard, with better conservation measures and increased science standards with respect to decision-making. We have followed that up with the passing of the Clean Water Act, which provides us with the largest scientific exercise -- $120 million, with $7 million for immediate work being done, much of it with respect to the Great Lakes. Your party and your leader voted against that historic piece of legislation.

The Canada-Ontario agreement expires in March 2007. We are actively engaged in the renewal and re-examination of that, but you could assist us in placing a call to the federal government. Get the federal government engaged. It is an international agreement, after all.