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by

The Honourable Laurel Broten
Minister of the Environment

“Healthy Waters, Healthy Communities - Protecting Our Shared Legacy”
AD Latornell Conservation Symposium

Exhibitors Gallery
Nottawasaga Inn and Convention Centre
Alliston, ON

Wednesday, November 16, 2005

(Check against delivery)

I am delighted to join you all here today for the twelfth annual Latornell Conservation Symposium.

It’s been just a few short months since I was appointed Environment Minister for this wonderful province, but already I’ve heard good things about Latornell. It’s clear that this is where the great water minds meet each year – an essential gathering of the water gurus – so to speak – and I am honoured to address you.

I’m also honoured to be in the company of Dr. Sheila Basrur who makes a compelling case for the link between healthy waters and healthy communities.

Of course, Justice O’Connor’s work, post-Walkerton, will forever stand for what we now consider to be an imperative: Everyone has a right to clean water in Ontario. It’s our shared responsibility to protect it.

But clean water depends on strong safeguards.

In this province, we are blessed with an abundance of resources, I’m happy to say. Start with the drinking water. From the Great Lakes to the Thames River, Lake Nipissing to the Kawarthas, from the Bay of Quinte to the St. Lawrence, and all the various rivers and aquifers that run beneath us – it’s a priceless resource, one we share equally.

Good leadership is also priceless – people like Dr. Basrur and Justice O’Connor continue to make a difference and have made a difference. It is the exceptional work being done by the conservation authorities and municipalities. And, it is the efforts of all of you – the esteemed scientists and experts gathered at this conference.

Together we are creating great opportunities and the McGuinty government applauds your efforts.

We couldn’t ask for better partners in protecting our shared legacy.

De l’eau propre – c’est ce que nous voulons tous. Pour assurer un avenir prospère et une population en santé, il est absolument vital d’avoir une eau salubre et de qualité. Nos enfants ne méritent rien de moins.

Clean water – that’s what we all want. It’s vitally important for a healthy and prosperous future. Our children deserve nothing less.

And today I can tell you that Ontario is about to enter a new era. We are poised to add the final links to the chain of safeguards that protects our drinking water from source to tap.

We will soon have what Justice O’Connor has referred to as a “multi-barrier” system of protections. The first barrier – protecting the sources of our drinking water before they are polluted or drained.

For all of us involved with water, it’s an exciting time. The McGuinty Government has a plan to reduce the risk to drinking water through preventative measures.

Our approach is based on a fundamental principle: the most effect way to protect public health is through prevention.

So logically, it works better to stop water from becoming contaminated in the first place than trying to treat it after the fact.

In Ontario, we know all too well that without adequate protections for drinking water, the effects can be disastrous.

It can cost us our good health and, in severe cases, it can cost lives.

The emphasis we place on prevention works in harmony with the other components of drinking water protection that our government has initiated.

Over the last two years, we’ve taken a wide range of actions:

• We’ve hired more water inspectors;
• We’ve regulated the amount of training required to operate a municipal water system;
• We’ve increased the frequency of inspections for municipal water systems and the labs that test drinking water; and
• In the spring, we introduced environmental penalties and a community cleanup fund to guard against industrial spills affecting drinking water.

We have also created stricter rules for issuing permits to take water, and we’ve worked with our colleagues at the Ministry of Agriculture and Food to improve the environmental performance of agricultural operations.

We’ve made excellent progress -- in part, I think, because we understand the importance of working with partners at all levels.

It was two years ago that my predecessor Leona Dombrowsky came here to tell you about one of our government’s first moves on the water file – the creation of two expert committees to help guide the move to preventing our drinking water sources from becoming degraded.

In the very near future, I will be introducing comprehensive legislation that will require protection plans for watersheds right across the province.

The legislation will be focused on four important steps:

• Mapping our drinking water sources
• Identifying and assessing threats to these sources of water
• Using local collaboration to develop plans to reduce or eliminate these threats, and
• Working together to implement these plans.

First, municipalities and CAs will work collectively with others in the watershed to identify drinking water sources and major water features such as recharge areas and headwaters that feed our water sources. Just by laying them out on a map and letting everyone know where they are, will create awareness.

Source protection will be based on a strong foundation of science. In fact, we will only succeed if we base our efforts on a thorough, scientific assessment of potential threats to drinking water.

Nous avons besoin – et le public a besoin – d’avoir confiance dans le fait que nous agissons pour résoudre des problèmes qui menacent véritablement notre eau potable.

We need – and the public needs – confidence that we are acting on real threats to our drinking water.

This confidence is based on having the best available information. That is why we will be asking CAs and municipalities to rank the threats to drinking water that they find, and determine which are most significant.

The anticipated result? An unprecedented amount of information will be made available to the public for the very first time. Watershed characterization, water budgeting, and vulnerability assessments are key examples.

Our government has provided -- and will continue to provide -- support to municipalities and conservation authorities to help them undertake the scientific assessment work needed to protect drinking water sources in their communities.

Decisions about managing water belong in the hands of the people who will be most affected. They are in the best position to understand the situation and what is feasible. That is why we are insisting that our source protection process be locally driven.

Locally driven, developed and delivered plans are the best way to protect our communities’ water sources in the long term. Conservation authorities, municipalities, landowners, industry, farmers, community groups and the public will all collaborate and develop workable, effective plans to address local risks.

Just as we all have a right to clean, safe drinking water, we believe that protecting it is also a shared responsibility. By engaging the entire community in the consultation process, no single stakeholder can ignore their responsibility at another’s expense. Consultation builds partnerships between local groups and protects common interests.

The most important step, of course, is acting on the threats that are identified and implementing the local plans.

Much of this activity will be based on cooperation and partnership again at the local level. But where significant threats to drinking water are identified, mandatory action will be required. Municipalities and the Province will work with businesses, farmers, industry and other landowners that represent a significant threat to drinking water in vulnerable areas, to ensure that they take appropriate action, as outlined in the plans.

While this process may sound straightforward, the strategy behind it is both comprehensive and far- reaching.

The benefits of prevention are immeasurable. The price our families and communities will pay if we don’t take action is simply unacceptable.

Le gouvernement McGuinty s’est engagé à protéger l’environnement et la santé de la population de l’Ontario. La qualité de l’eau potable est au centre de cette promesse.

The McGuinty government is committed to protecting our environment and our health. Safe water, as we can read in the papers and learn about each day, is at the very foundation of that promise.

That’s why we have worked so hard these past two years to ensure drinking water that Ontarians can count on.

We could not have made it this far without you and we will continue to rely on our strong partnership in the coming years.

We are delivering positive change and we are moving quickly.

Stay tuned – big news about water is coming soon.

Thank you.

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