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Statement to the Ontario Legislature (Toronto)

by

The Honourable Laurel Broten
Minister of the Environment

“Introducing the Clean Water Act, 2005”

Ontario Legislature, Queen’s Park
Toronto, ON
Monday, December 5, 2005

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to stand before my colleagues today in this Legislature to make an announcement that we consider historic. It concerns our drinking water, an invaluable asset of our great province.

In Ontario, we are blessed with an abundance of 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 streaming through the rivers and aquifers that run beneath us…it’s a priceless resource, from its source to our tap.

Today, our government is taking decisive action to protect the sources of our shared water; because in doing so, we protect the health of our families, the quality of life in our communities and ultimately our future prosperity and environment.

Today, we are entering a new era of source water protection.

Mr. Speaker, I am proud to tell you that today our government has introduced the Clean Water Act – unprecedented legislation that would set above all else the concept of prevention as the first principle in the safeguarding of our province’s drinking water.

If passed, the Clean Water Act would empower each of us to protect our drinking water sources in watersheds across Ontario, including the Great Lakes.

It is time for Ontario to establish itself as a leader in the protection and delivery of clean, safe drinking water. Mr. Speaker, today we are doing just that by creating the most comprehensive system in Canada designed to preserve our most precious natural resource.

Everyone has a right to clean water – and we all have a responsibility to protect it.

But “trust” is where it all begins and ends.

We must be able to trust the water that comes out of our taps. We must be able to trust the source.

What happens when this trust is lost?

None of us can – or should – forget Walkerton. At the same time, those painful memories must serve to ensure that our province meets and exceeds a standard of measure second to none.

Today and into the future, Ontarians should be fully confident that their water is reliable, clean and healthy.

Mr. Speaker, we took very seriously the recommendations of Justice Dennis O’Connor.

We learned, fundamentally, that prevention is key. To protect, we must prevent.

Justice O’Connor called it the first barrier in a multi-barrier system of drinking water protections.

Our government is implementing all of Justice O’Connor’s recommendations.

And, our government is taking action because it is the right thing to do.

We have taken action to improve how water in Ontario is treated, how water systems operators are trained and how water systems are inspected.

And we have introduced environmental penalties and a community cleanup fund to guard against industrial spills affecting drinking water.

The Clean Water Act, if passed, would be the most vital link in the chain of safeguards protecting our water from source to tap.

The legislation would require plans to protect drinking water in watersheds across Ontario.

Mr. Speaker, the Clean Water Act would ensure that our approach to water protection is based on good science, greater vigilance and more foresight.

For the first time, we will know where our sources are, how much is there and what threats endanger it.

Here’s how the Clean Water Act would work.

It would require municipalities and conservation authorities to form committees to develop source protection plans.

These plans would scrutinize any activity that could potentially threaten the quality or quantity of water and take action to reduce or eliminate that threat.

Source protection committees would consult with municipalities and stakeholders in the affected area and publish their proposed plans.

These proposed plans would be submitted by the local source protection authority to my office along with any comments received during consultation. Public consultation is central to this legislation.

If amendments are required to fortify the effectiveness of a given plan in addressing a threat to water quality, my office would have that authority.

Our legislation would provide an extra level of protection, as well. If local authorities became aware of a discharge that could result in an imminent water health hazard, my Ministry would be notified. These immediate actions could prevent serious contamination of drinking water.

Mr. Speaker, this legislation covers more than just those parts of Ontario that have a conservation authority. Municipalities would be able to enter into an agreement with my office, if they choose, to prepare a source protection plan in an area that is not under conservation authority jurisdiction.

The Act would also empower local authorities to take preventative measures before threats to water can develop into real problems. This means not only threats originating within a community, but also outside of its boundaries.

Mr. Speaker, this is critical to our success.

We can no longer expect that water can be managed by many separate plans that don’t align.

Threats to our water do not respect boundaries; neither should our response.

The Clean Water Act is a new and innovative approach that would count the public as full participants. It would ensure that entire communities would work together to find strategies to protect both the quantity and quality of their drinking water.

Mr. Speaker, if passed, the Clean Water Act will support the implementation of no less than 22 recommendations of the Walkerton Inquiry.

It will increase municipalities’ ability to protect their own water supply.

It will give the public better information about threats to drinking water and how they will be addressed.

Most importantly, it would help prevent our water supplies from getting contaminated in the first place.

After all, water that starts clean, stays clean.

And Mr. Speaker, we believe that the people of Ontario deserve nothing less.

They deserve a sustainable supply of clean, safe drinking water;

They deserve the knowledge that our most valuable resource is protected, no matter what the source.

This is the commitment of our government. This is why we need the Clean Water Act.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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