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April 26, 2007
Locals not surprised by MNR, MOE findings;
Ministries cut to point they can't do jobs,
Environmental Commissioner finds
Jim Algie - www.owensoundsunties.com
Ontario's Environment and Natural Resources
ministries fail to meet basic program targets
because of staff and budget cuts in recent
years, a report from Environmental Commissioner
Gord Miller says.
Spending cuts since 1992 at both ministries have
eroded scientific expertise and staffing, Miller
said in a special report to the provincial
legislature.
Despite what Miller called "unprecedented"
public interest in the environment, spending
limits at both ministries have begun to show in
a variety of operational failures.
Miller cites irregular inspection of potential
polluters and weak oversight of municipal sewage
treatment plants by MOE officials. That's at
least partly because of a shift to stricter
enforcement of tougher drinking water standards
after the Walkerton drinking water disaster.
The ministry has "enhanced drinking water
investigations at the expense of other areas,"
Miller said in his report. MOE budgets have not
kept pace with population growth and increasing
regulatory duties.
It's
a similar story at the MNR, where staff can't
stay on top of the provnice's 6,000 aggregate
extraction operations or the maintenance of
provincial parks, Miller said. It also
means inadequate monitoring of wildlife and
sport fisheries in the province.
Lack
of funds forces some conservation officers to
work from their offices because they can't
afford to put gasoline in their patrol vehicles.
In northern Ontario, community groups have taken
to selling cookies and holding fundraising
events to support the field work of conservation
officers.
Outdoor enthusiasts have said as much for years.
Retired conservation officer Joel Tost said
Wednesday that the ministry has yet to replace
him on the Bruce Peninsula, two years after he
ended his 30-year career.
"The poaching guys, they love it," Tost said in
an interview. "They're doing whatever the hell
they want to up in my area."
Morale is low and sinking among his former
colleagues, Tost said. There is no budget for
overtime wages and very little in the way of
weekend work.
"It's really sad. There's not much left of
them," Tost said.
Outdoors television producer Darryl Choronzey,
who lives near Owen Sound, welcomed Miller's
report.
"This guy should get sainthood," Choronzey said.
"Those are probably the smartest remarks I've
heard from the government in probably 50 years."
"And all he's really saying is common sense.
It's what everybody's been saying. The
government has been shafting us for years."
Choronzey said.
Bruce-Grey-Owen Sound MPP Bill Murdoch said
Miller's report confirms that rural issues
remain a low priority for the Liberal government
of Premier Dalton McGuinty. Murdoch, a
Progressive Conservative, fielded criticism of
under-spending on the environment by the Mike
Harris government during the Walkerton
controversy. But that's part of the reason why
the Conservatives now sit on the opposition side
of the legislature, Murdoch said. The Liberals
were elected on a promise to fix environmental
policy, he said.
"They've been in government for four years,
figure it out," Murdoch said. "They just don't
put any money into these things and you know
why. It's rural and northern Ontario. It's like
Agriculture and Food, they keep cutting back and
cutting back."
One former Owen Sound-based environmental
officer said he has watched the gradual decline
of the MOE since he left in the late 1990s. It's
been downhill since the peak of ministry
influence in the 1980s under the former Liberal
environment minister Jim Bradley, Arnie Clark
said.
"He encouraged us to do our job and we were able
to police the environment," Clark said. "We
responded to anything and everything, unlike
today. It seems any time you call MOE, they
don't handle the situation you're calling
about."
Staff cuts, the contracting out of laboratory
services and the sale of government lab
equipment all contributed to what Clark
describes as a "slow gutting of MOE."
"I left just prior to the Walkerton tragedy.
It's declined ever since," Clark said.
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