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Notes for remarks

by

The Honourable Laurel Broten
Minister of the Environment

Canadian Urban Institute’s Canadian Brownfields 2005 conference (Ottawa)
“Developing Liveable Communities - Creating a Healthy and Prosperous Future”

Fairmont Château Laurier
Ottawa, ON
Thursday, October 13, 2005

Good morning everyone and thank you. As much as I would like to be with you in person today, I’m pleased that technology allows me to send along my greetings.

Congratulations on another great year.

As Ontario’s new Minister of the Environment, I spend a great deal of my time thinking about the very subject of your conference – Livable Communities. From my perspective, ‘liveable’ means safe, clean, healthy and environmentally smart communities. Liveable means protecting our drinking water, cleaning up our air and sustaining the value and uses of our land. Ontarians deserve nothing less.

I represent and live in a largely urban riding, and every day I see the need for a progressive approach to keeping our cities vibrant. I see why sustainability is critical to our future. And why brownfields remediation is an incredibly positive -- and obvious -- way to create cleaner communities, to rejuvenate neighbourhoods and to protect our health.

Later today you’ll hear from my colleague the Honorable John Gerretson, Ontario Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing. Our work is inter-related. Together, we are forging ahead with our government’s plan to protect Ontario’s land resources.

It’s a plan that preserves our environment and presents our communities with opportunities to grow and prosper. It’s that simple.

There are many advantages to brownfields redevelopment, in my view.

It discourages urban sprawl.

It optimizes the use of land already serviced by roads and other infrastructure.

It is consistent with the shift toward the intensification and compact development envisioned in Ontario’s growth plan.

It offers opportunities for economic growth.

Most important though, it meets these goals in an environmentally conscientious way.

Brownfields redevelopment is a vivid and real-time example of the link between a well-protected environment and our quality of life in this province.

Ontario is moving in the right direction.

Our long-term goal is to have the cleanest, safest and best-protected communities in North America.

Ontario’s brownfields professionals are valued allies in helping us create a healthier and more prosperous future for all Ontarians.

Thank you.

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