Ontario Hansard - 12-June - 2006

AIR QUALITY

Ms. Laurie Scott (Haliburton-Victoria-Brock): Today we all saw the Lakeview generating station towers in Mississauga demolished. On March 26, 2001, Elizabeth Witmer and the Ontario Progressive Conservative government announced a comprehensive plan to improve air quality in Ontario. This plan for cleaner air and healthier communities was announced after a thorough review of the coal-fired plants. The plan imposed strict emission limits and required the Lakeview generating station to cease burning coal by April 2005. Thanks to the work of former environment minister Elizabeth Witmer, MPP Kitchener-Waterloo, and the work of the previous government, I am pleased to see that Ontarians will be breathing easier. We all owe her a debt of thanks for her foresight.

In recent months, the Liberal government has backed off their proposed timelines for coal plant closures from 2007 to 2009, and now we find out that they've backed away yet again. The Liberal government has been breaking promises and revised promises on a regular basis. At least they are honouring the hard work of Elizabeth Witmer by keeping the promise she made.

In the GTA, next to cars, the Lakeview generating station was the greatest contributor to poor air quality. It was not an NDP government, it was not a Liberal government but a Progressive Conservative government that led to its closure. When we look back at the McGuinty government's accomplishments, all we see is a track record of hot air, empty rhetoric and the fact that most smog days in any given year in our history were under the McGuinty government. Some legacy to leave.