Belleville council has unanimously supported Quinte Conservation’s objection to the provincial government’s proposal to streamline the permit-by-rule framework.
Chair of Quinte Conservation, Councillor Chris Malette, says the province would no longer have the Ministry of Environment do detailed reviews of hazardous materials that companies were going to transport and instead allow companies to self-regulate by submitting their information voluntarily
There would be no penalties for companies that did not report their hazardous cargo and transportation routes.
In calling the proposed easing of regulations “boneheaded,” Malette said the effort to cut so-called “red tape” was another quiet way of eroding protections for Ontario drinking water supplies.
“Any one of these materials in a spill from a truck anywhere near our source drinking water is a recipe for disaster for potentially thousands of people.”
Malette said people need to remember how the easing of regulations led to the Walkerton tragedy in which seven people were killed by contaminated drinking water 23 years ago.
Belleville councillor and Chair of the Quinte Conservation Board of Directors Chris Malette. (Photo: Quinte News)
