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Notes for remarks

by

The Honourable Laurel Broten
Minister of the Environment

Meeting with Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters
“Championing Business, Championing the Environment”

Courtyard Marriott Hotel
Toronto, ON
Wednesday, February 8, 2006

(Check against delivery)

Good morning, everyone. I’m delighted to be here with you today.

I’m sure that, like me, you were all watching intently as our new federal government was sworn in earlier this week. It reminded me of my own first day as a cabinet member. I’ve been Minister of the Environment for about seven months now, and it has been an eventful time.

When Premier McGuinty appointed me to this portfolio, he gave me a mandate to strengthen our environmental protections to improve the health of our people for a strong and prosperous future.

Our government-wide efforts to protect the environment all serve to ensure the health, safety and sustainability of our communities – today, and for the future.

In order to prosper, communities need a strong and competitive economy. That’s why environmental and economic progress are so closely linked. It’s also why events like this gathering today are so important.

Les efforts que nous déployons à l’échelle du gouvernement pour protéger l’environnement visent à préserver la santé, la sécurité et la viabilité de nos collectivités – aujourd’hui et demain.

Pour être en mesure de prospérer, les collectivités doivent jouir d’une économie forte et concurrentielle. C’est la raison pour laquelle les progrès qui touchent l’environnement sont si étroitement liés aux progrès économiques. C’est aussi pourquoi une rencontre comme celle que nous avons aujourd’hui est si importante.

As Canada’s largest trade and industry association, the CME has its finger on the pulse of the national economy – and on the international economic scene in which Canadian and Ontario companies must do business.

In your own words, you are the undisputed champion of business issues in Canada. This makes you ideal champions of the environment as well, because the values are the same: efficiency, innovation, sustainability, and strengthened partnerships, to name only a few.

Meetings like this foster greater understanding between government and industry, and help us forge better relationships with our key partners and stakeholders. It is a chance to update you on our priorities and to invite your input.

You provide us with a perspective that allows us to develop measures that will be effective in the real world.

Each of us helps contribute to a better Ontario. When we combine our efforts, that effect is amplified. With your continued support and cooperation, I’m confident we can achieve the important environmental and economic goals we share.

We have a busy agenda here this morning. My Deputy Minister, Paavo Kivisto, will go into some more detail in a moment, but first I would like to briefly outline some of the important new environmental measures our government has introduced, and some of the new initiatives we’re currently working on.

Let’s look at some of our major accomplishments over the past little while.

We have made tremendous strides in developing protections for Ontario’s drinking water at every stage, from source to tap and back again.

We continue to implement the recommendations made by Justice O’Connor in his report on the Walkerton Inquiry.

We have hired more inspectors, required mandatory inspections of water treatment plants and water testing labs, and introduced new training requirements for plant operators. We have proposed a new set of rules for permits to take water.

Our most significant action was to introduce new legislation – the proposed Clean Water Act – that puts prevention first.

By protecting the sources of our drinking water from contamination, we are adding another barrier of protection.

Under the Act, local authorities would be responsible for identifying threats within the watershed to their supply of drinking water. They would be given a range of tools to work with landowners, businesses and others to eliminate those threats.

The principles of the Clean Water Act will not be new to industry, particularly large facilities. Facilities are already regulated and have certificates of approval outlining what actions they will take to control emissions and reduce the risk of spills.
Industry is already familiar with taking initiatives to mitigate threats and to working with government officials to develop strategies for pollution control.

In fact, what the Clean Water Act is doing is carrying that same principle out to a wider range of stakeholders. There will be a broad shared responsibility for protecting drinking water, led by the people and groups in the community who depend on it most.

The public understanding of the link between the environment and our health is very high. This is true for water but even more so for air quality. In fact, Ontarians list air quality as their greatest environmental concern. Their concern is easy to understand.

Our own studies show that some 5,000 Ontarians die every year from illness related to air pollution. As well, childhood asthma rates have skyrocketed in recent years.

Air pollution is responsible for almost $10 billion dollars a year in costs to Ontario, including $6.6 billion in health costs.

Whether you look at the situation from a health, social or economic standpoint, it’s clear that strong action is needed.

More than half of our air pollution originates outside Ontario, from the U.S. Midwest states upwind of us. As we work with our neighbours to address that situation, we also need to make sure that we have our own house in order.

And together, we are meeting that challenge.

I want to emphasize that many of our successes could not have been accomplished without close collaboration with industry.

Our new caps on smog causing emissions from seven major industrial sectors were developed in consultation with the affected facilities.

We worked closely with business to develop our new air standards for 40 harmful pollutants – the largest update in over 25 years.

We are working to streamline the emissions reporting process and eliminate the duplication of reporting to both a federal and provincial system. This is expected to reduce reporting costs by more than $2 million a year.

Ontario is taking a leadership role in tackling air emissions, and we are looking to governments and industries in other jurisdictions to follow our lead.

Every day in Ontario, companies are demonstrating that you can reduce emissions, adopt new efficient technologies, and prosper.

We want to take this message to our neighbours and to the world.

On the subject of consulting with industry, I know that today you will be discussing the Environmental Enforcement Statute Law Amendment Act and the key development under that Act, environmental penalties.

Our government heard many concerns from industry as this legislation moved forward. I am glad to have this opportunity to thank you for your feedback. We have heard your commitment to environmental protection and we have taken the concerns raised by industry very seriously.

As many of you know, we are in the midst of several stages of consultation with industry on the regulations under the Act. These have been constructive and useful and are helping us shape how our compliance tools will play a role in decreasing the risk of spills to the environment.

The last point I want to make here involves the progress we are making to improve the way the government does business.

Over the past couple of years, we have spent a lot of time and energy on government-wide planning co-ordination – to bring about real and positive change, and to ensure that government serves the province as effectively as possible.

One of the biggest steps forward in modernizing government is in our relationship with the regulated community.

In today’s business, we can interact at many levels, from the field staff right up to the CEO. It is important that our framework for industry relations keeps up with the new realities of how we interact.

All companies are not the same. There should be incentives and rewards for being a good environmental performer. There should be tools in place to encourage poor performers to get up to standard.

We are working to modernize our approach to increase our opportunities to work together to succeed both environmentally and economically.

Our list of accomplishments is impressive, and the cooperative approach that led to these accomplishments is equally admirable.

There is still a great deal to do, and I can assure you that we’ll be working hard to tackle these challenges in the weeks and months ahead.

We will continue working closely with the CME to share expertise and advice, and to promote a healthier environment and a stronger, more prosperous province.

La liste de nos accomplissements est impressionnante, et la collaboration qui a favorisé ces accomplissements est également admirable. Il reste encore beaucoup à faire, et je peux vous assurer que nous déploierons tous les efforts nécessaires pour relever ces défis dans les semaines et les mois à venir.

Nous continuerons à collaborer étroitement avec Manufacturiers et Exportateurs du Canada dans le but de partager compétences et conseils, et de promouvoir un environnement plus sain ainsi qu’une province encore plus forte et prospère.

On behalf of Deputy Kivisto and all of the ministry representatives here today, let me say thank you for this opportunity.

Today is a meeting of champions, and the results will benefit our health, our environment and our economy.

Thank you.

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