Ontario’s Environmental Commissioner Gord Miller – in his annual report – states that water is far too undervalued in this province.
Speaking with Bayshore Broadcasting, Miller says its time the Provincial Government followed through with one of the recommendations from the Walkerton Water inquiry.
That was Justice Dennis OConnor recommended that all municipalities be required to ensure that their water and sewage systems are properly financed to avoid another contaminated water crisis.
Miller says in response to this recommendation, in 2002, the Ontario government passed new legislation requiring municipal drinking-water and sewage systems to develop financial plans to fully cover their costs.
However, this legislation has never been implemented.
Miller also takes exception to the way air quality is tested in the Province saying the air testing stations are located away from urban areas.
He says because of that people do not get a true reading of the air quality in their cities and towns.
Miller also takes the government to task for not taking the decline of biodiversity in the province seriously.
He says neither the MNR or the Government has a plan for monitoring the decline of species or habitat.
Miller says the continuing decline in biodiversity is one of the most pressing issues facing the Ontario government currently, and in the decades to come.
