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Notes for Remarks
by

The Honourable Leona Dombrowsky
Minister of the Environment
MPP Hastings-Frontenac-Lennox & Addington

To the Economic Club of Toronto
Tuesday, February 8, 2005

(Check against delivery)

It is a pleasure to be here this afternoon to talk to the Toronto Economic Club.

I see many people who I have met with over the past year to discuss your concerns and I know my ministry works very closely with many of you.

Today, I want to provide some clarity and certainty about our plans as we move ahead to protect the environment.

I also want to talk about important changes under way at the Ministry of the Environment.

I would like to begin my remarks by talking about a fascinating businessman named Ray Anderson. who is the founder and chairman of a company called Interface Inc., the world’s largest manufacturer of flooring and commercial carpets.

One of his factories is located in Belleville, near my home.

Interface operates on four continents and sells products in 110 countries and the Belleville, Ont., plant is one of its most efficient.

About 10 years ago, Mr. Anderson had an environmental epiphany.

Inspired by Paul Hawken's book, The Ecology of Commerce, Mr. Anderson set about raising his company's environmental awareness and led changes in technology to move Interface toward becoming environmentally sustainable.

And this sustainability – using only renewable energy sources and recycled materials – is what drives its innovation.

The numbers are impressive:

At its Belleville plant, for example, Interface has reduced energy consumption 70 per cent, water consumption 97.5 per cent, and diverted waste to landfills by 90 per cent.

This Ontario plant has won many environmental awards and certifications and is one of the crown jewels within the Interface Empire.

In the first five years of its ‘Green Awakening’, Interface saved $165 million worldwide, while spending only $30 million to re-engineer machines and re-educate its 8,000 workers.

I know you would agree that is a terrific return on investment.

Mr. Anderson believes that if Interface — in a petro-intensive industry — can get it right, others can, too.

His infectious passion on this issue is simple: it is not only the right thing to do, but the smart thing to do…for all of us, for our children, and their children...and, yes, for our businesses.

Look around you. There are next-generation Ray Andersons at your table right now who realize that the economy and environment are symbiotic, not mutually exclusive.

This is the principle behind all these important changes at the Ontario Ministry of the Environment.

The government of Premier Dalton McGuinty has made environmental protection a priority and will continue to do so. Our future depends on it.

Our goal, and I know it is one you share, is to protect the natural environment and protect the health of Ontarians, while at the same time enhancing Ontario’s economy.

According to the Ontario Medical Association, every year there are 1,900 premature deaths due to contaminants in the air Ontarians breathe.

We can do better.

Dozens of times each year companies spill dangerous chemicals into the lakes and rivers of this province.

We can do better.

Ontario only diverts 30 per cent of its waste from landfill.

We can do better.

It has become clear that we need to dramatically change the way my ministry operates.

Just as Mr. Anderson re-engineered Interface’s machines, so, too, are we re-tooling the Ministry of the Environment.

This change is overdue. Many of you have told us this.

The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, for instance, says Ontario and Canada need better economic instruments to address environmental pollution.

The provincial auditor has called for changes in my ministry’s approach to issuing Certificates of Approval and how we plan inspections.

Environmental NGOs say there are rules on the books that allow polluters to take advantage of the system.

The Industrial Pollution Action Team that I appointed last year expressed concerns that industrial pollution was often being treated as a normal business practice and that our current enforcement techniques were not dissuading polluters.

They found the ministry reacted to problems and did not do enough to prevent them.

I am proud to report on our progress over the past year:

Today we are meeting our commitments for cleaner air, safer water and a reduction in waste.

More water inspectors are in the field.

We have implemented 54 of the 121 recommendations of the O’Connor report to protect our province’s water supply.

The Great Lakes are getting cleaner and we are developing legislation on watershed-based source protection.

It is important that we prevent water from becoming polluted because it costs 40 times more to clean it up once it has become polluted.

We have taken long-overdue action to stop Ontario from becoming a hazardous waste dumping ground.

We have reached a deal to ensure that the municipal blue-box program remains sustainable.

Our new rules for compost standards will allow municipalities to divert thousands of tonnes of waste from landfills.

Toronto has had an extremely successful launch and expansion of its Green Bin program.

In two months we will close the Lakeview Generating Station, the first step in the replacement of coal-fired electricity in Ontario.

However, the challenges we face are not only environmental, they are economic, as well.

Your companies have to make decisions that make good economic sense.

In the past, people have assumed economic goals and environmental goals could not be met at the same time.

They believed the only solution was to compromise and sacrifice competitiveness or social responsibility.

Ray Anderson has proved that this is not the case.

There are new clean technologies and new management approaches that will enable us, working together, to change the economics of environmental protection.

Instead of asking business leaders to balance two objectives, we are going to work with you to change the model so there is only one goal.

With your help we will change the laws of this province to tip the competitive advantage to clean, efficient companies.

Together we will develop a system that discourages poor environmental performance by shifting the burden of cleaning up environmental spills from the taxpayer to the companies responsible.

We will work with you to change the economic landscape so that the lean and clean can prosper, while bad actors and slow movers pay for their disregard of the laws and regulations.

Most importantly, we are moving away from a system that is all about process and putting our focus on results.

A strong environmental track record should count for something — and be encouraged with incentives.

We think the ministry should focus its efforts on situations where the risks to human health and the environment are greatest.

This approach is better for the environment. It reduces the risk of environmental contamination in our communities.

It is also more fair to the vast majority of businesses that compete and thrive in international markets, while being environmentally responsible.

It is also better for the bottom line. Our approach will reduce the time and cost involved for most companies in getting approvals.

Many of you will be familiar with two initiatives from our new approach to protecting the environment.

The first is our Environmental Leaders program launched last October.

Our innovative program recognizes Ontario companies that voluntarily go beyond compliance.

These Leaders are solid examples of the link between smart environmental policy and good economic return.

Last year, I was proud to welcome Steelcase Canada into the Environmental Leaders program.

The world’s largest manufacturer of office furniture was recognized for reducing emissions by installing new paint spray equipment.

The second piece of our new approach is Bill 133. This proposed legislation would introduce Environmental Penalties for companies that cause major spills or emissions.

Our goal is to encourage compliance and we will work with businesses to find the best way to reach that end.

We are building on the work of the Industrial Pollution Action Team, which criticized the status quo and urged changes to improve environmental protection.

The team said “the current system does not encourage pollution, or spills prevention.”

We want to work with business to develop a system that does promote prevention.

With this bill, Ontario is catching up to other jurisdictions, like California, Texas and New Jersey, to encourage companies to take actions necessary to prevent spills.

If passed, this legislation would give my ministry the power to impose an environmental penalty against a company within a few days after a spill.

We must be able to move quickly to compensate local communities.

We need a system that encourages compliance quickly and also provides money to compensate those affected.

We cannot wait months or years to respond with legal actions.

For too long, downstream residents have been forced to bear the financial and psychological, cost of spills.

Under Bill 133, all funds collected from penalties would go to a dedicated community cleanup fund.

Municipalities would also get new powers under this bill to seek cleanup recovery costs from companies responsible for spills.

I want to clear up one misconception about Bill 133. The penalties would only apply to facilities under the MISA regulations. Right now that list is about 140 large facilities.

The sectors covered are – electric power generation, industrial minerals, inorganic chemicals, organic chemicals, iron and steel, metal casting, metal mining, pulp and paper and petroleum.

Penalties would not apply to municipalities or to the vast majority of businesses in this province.

We are consulting with companies on the requirements of the legislation and we are listening to their concerns.

The Environmental Leaders program and Bill 133 are the bookends of a much more comprehensive shift.

Our government is committed to reshaping our environmental protection regime in a number of ways:

We will reward good environmental performers

• We will make greater use of all regulatory and non-regulatory tools at our disposal
• We will focus our ministry’s resources on the worst environmental performers

I promise you that industries will see changes in their relationship with the Ministry of the Environment.

Our inspections will be linked to your performance record. We will focus on companies and industries with poor track records of compliance and on those that represent the highest risk to their communities.

For other, better performing companies, we will be looking at new and innovative strategies to incent best practices or, preferably, go beyond compliance. There will be tangible benefits to solid performance.

Let’s face it, all companies are not equal, and they should not be treated that way.

Imagine if all corporations got the same investment rating, regardless of their economic performance.

There would be no motivation to improve, adapt or even compete. The same will be true with environmental standards.

If you have a history of meeting or exceeding environmental compliance, your performance will be rewarded.

Environmental Leaders receive such benefits as faster decisions on applications to use new technology and single-window access to the ministry with a customer representative who understands your business.

If you have a poor history of environmental compliance, you can expect to hear from my ministry more often.

My government wants to be as open and consultative as possible and to apply the right tools to address the situation.

However, there is not a single tool that can fix everything.

While performance-based approvals and incentives make sense for Ontario’s businesses, protecting our drinking water requires more diligence.

We all know too well the consequences of inadequate protection for drinking water, we have a strong regime of regular inspections, frequent testing and required training and certification.

Such a strict set of controls is not required on most day-to-day business operations.

We will work with you closely to develop a regime that encourages innovation and that makes Ontario businesses among the most competitive in North America.

We know this is the right way to go and we know that together we can make this work.

Moving forward will be rewarded.

Standing still will be discouraged.

And moving backward will be penalized.

Our next step is to bring our new model to our stakeholders. We need to consult with you, with municipalities, with NGOs and with concerned citizens to craft a model that will work.

Ontario will compete with the best. Economic sustainability must include a plan for environmental sustainability.

The most economically competitive jurisdictions are also the ones that have high environmental standards.

As strong and successful business leaders like Ray Anderson have proven, sound environmental practices drive economic performance.

Ontario can be a world leader in both business and environmental competitiveness and we look forward to working with all partners to achieve this goal.

Thank you.

 

 

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