Location: Ministry Home > News > Minister's Speeches > Speech

Notes for remarks

by

The Honourable Laurel Broten
Minister of the Environment

Dioxin 2005/ISPAC 20 Joint Conference (Toronto)
“Strong Environmental Protection Needs a Strong Scientific Foundation”

Fairmont Royal York Hotel
Toronto, ON
Monday, August 22, 2005

(Check Against Delivery)

Good morning, everyone… and thank you, Dr. Alaee for that kind introduction. (Minister introduced by Mehran Alaee, co-chair of Dioxin 2005.)

On behalf of the Ontario government as well as the Ministry of the Environment, it’s my pleasure to welcome all of you to our province and to the great city of Toronto.

I am delighted to have this opportunity to help kick things off this morning.

My ministry is proud to have organized the Dioxin 2005 symposium with our federal partners at Environment Canada.

I note that the dioxin symposium and the ISPAC conference are being jointly-held for the first time. This can only reflect how well your efforts complement each other.

Clearly, this is a great opportunity for you to work together to further our collective understanding of substances that threaten our health and put our environment in peril.

This is a great opportunity for me as well. As a new environment minister, I’m absorbing as much as I can, and as fast as I can.

And if there is one point I would like to make this morning, it is this: Strong environmental protection needs a strong scientific foundation.

You are building that foundation.

As a result of your work, I can make more informed decisions to protect the environmental health of Ontarians.

While questions remain about the precise effects of dioxin exposure, the efforts of the world’s scientists have made a strong case for action.

Who can forget the face of Ukrainian politician Viktor Yushchenko? That showed the world the dramatic effects of exposure to the most toxic form of dioxin – TCDD.

It is your work that takes us beyond that alarming image to understand the nature of the problem and possible solutions.

You are asking the questions that need to be answered to make sound decisions regarding the health of our children, our families and our communities.

How do harmful substances like dioxin enter the environment? What are the pathways of human exposure? What are the human health effects? And what are the best ways to prevent their release and minimize their risk?

Over the next five days, these are the questions that you’ll be investigating.

Those of us who are not scientists may struggle with the complex numbers and terms you use to express your work, but the results aren’t hard to grasp – better protection for our families, healthier and stronger communities.

I recently had a chance to tour our Laboratory Services Branch and see first-hand some of the great work being done by acting director Dan Toner and our talented team of scientists.

I understand that our Dioxin Unit is considered to be one of the world’s top environmental testing laboratories for persistent organic pollutants.

We have the benefit of the world’s largest database for dioxins, PCBs and chlorinated pesticides in fresh-water fish. What an extraordinary resource.

It’s my job as Minister of the Environment to deliver on our government’s commitment – to protect the environment and the health of the people of this province – by minimizing Ontarians’ exposure to toxic substances. But It’s your work that lets allows me to make good on that commitment.

The efforts of our scientists support our programs and policies in a number of areas: sportfish contaminants, drinking water, nutrient management, industrial and municipal effluents, phytotoxicology and Great Lakes monitoring…to name a few.

As I said at the outset, strong environmental protection is built on the foundations of strong science.

Our success in building that foundation is dependent on the ability of experts from around the world to work co-operatively.

We look forward to hearing from you.

Let us continue to strengthen our partnerships because we all have a common goal – a sustainable future for our communities.

Again, let me say how honoured we are that Dioxin 2005 is taking place in Toronto.

I wish everyone a productive conference.

- end -