Ontario Ministry of the Environment must get involved
Contributed by Judy Lishman:
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The Ontario Ministry of the Environment must become actively involved in The Interprovincial Crossings Study in order to provide protection to Ontario citizens.
The Terms of Reference of the study state that it is a harmonized study with the federal government and the two provinces as the proponents and funding partners. The most stringent of their environmental legislation is to apply.
In order to avoid overlapping jurisdictions, the federal Environmental Act only applies to the natural environment not to the human environment. The human environment is afforded protection by the provincial Environmental Acts.
At this point in the bridge study, Ontario residents are left with no protection because the Ontario Ministry of the Environment is not involved in the study. At the outset, they declined to participate in approving the Terms of Reference because they said it wasn’t clear if Ontario was a proponent. Since Ontario has been named a proponent by the NCC, the MTO is actively participating in the study, Ontario is being asked their opinion on the study’s recommendation and is helping to pay for it, it is clear that the MOE must be involved at every stage of this study. The Environmental Assessment Legislation was enacted to protect the citizens of Ontario in exactly these circumstances.
If a bridge is built at Kettle Island thousands of Ontario citizens will be exposed daily to health and safety hazards. We need protection from our government.
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