Seven more broken promises?
Why won’t the McGuinty Government Proclaim the Sustainable Water and Sewage System Act?
By Judi McLeod
Tuesday, December 5, 2006
The Dalton McGuinty-led Ontario Liberal Government has a lengthy track record for untruths and broken promises.
On the issue of raising taxes after promising he wouldn’t, McGuinty will be going to election polls media-dubbed “Premier Pinocchio”.
The Ontario Liberals have spent millions of dollars advertising the pristine image that they, more than any other government, care about people and the environment. Problem is most Ontarians have long known to watch what politicians do rather than what they say.
Caught up in the Caledonia debacle since last February, the McGuinty government escaped public wrath over its longtime mishandling of the Walkerton tragedy. For reasons unknown, even now it refuses to proclaim Bill 175’s Sustainable Water and Sewage System Act.
It’s been six years since E. coli-tainted water in Walkerton claimed seven lives and made 2,300 people ill from drinking water that was not chlorinated.
In Opposition, the Liberals blamed the Mike Harris government of the day and promised to turn things around when they came into power at Queen’s Park.
In office Liberal window dressing was brisk with the government paying for seemingly endless studies, each one confirming the need for government to ensure clean, safe drinking water—something not only the people of Walkerton, Ontario know is a life necessity.
Impossible to imagine how loved ones of Walkerton victims must have felt about the results of so many studies whose conclusions were always the same.
During the six years since the Walkerton tragedy, the McGuinty government--on the public record with promises to implement Justice O’Connor’s seven core recommendations--has been dragging its heels.
This is the same government that in opposition were adamant in their condemnation of Premier Mike Harris and his government’s handling of Walkerton; the same government that had to be pushed to take action on safe drinking water when elected to public office.
More than anything else, the Ontario Liberals proved that politics poisons clean water legislation.
Finally and with great fanfare, the “Sustainable Water and Sewage Systems Act” was passed. But no regulations have been implemented—no improved path forward has emerged amid all the political parlay.
McGuinty and his ministers stick to the mantra that they are actually pro-action on the infrastructure that brings water into the average household.
The truth about Ontario’s water infrastructure is as murky as unchlorinated water.
In July of 2005, an Expert Water Panel, chaired by Dr. Harry Swain issued a report. The report contained excellent information and practical recommendations (see it here).
Among other things this report spelled out the current stock of water and wastewater assets in Ontario, estimated at $72-billion. $20 billion accounted for treatment plants with the remainder in a variety of piping systems, some in a dubious state.
How many taxpayers know that the water and wastewater deficit in Ontario currently stands at an estimated $18-billion?
Yet Ontario’s health and environment are dependent upon the effective management of our water and wastewater services and the continued investment in our clean water infrastructure.
The Walkerton tragedy forced Bill 175’s Sustainable Water and Sewage Systems Act.
But with another election in the offing, the Dalton McGuinty Government will not be proclaiming Bill 175.
Not only has McGuinty broken his promise to the living, but now by not proclaiming Bill 175, he also breaks promises to Walkerton’s 7 dead and their heartbroken loved ones.
Why is the Dalton McGuinty avoiding the proclamation of Bill 175?
The safety of all Ontarians rests on the answer.
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