PC ‘efficiencies’ blamed for Walkerton
Re Fearless to the end, May 12 The death of Robbie Schnurr is a heartbreaking story. I am truly sorry for Robbie and his friends and family.
I well remember the tragedy of Walkerton in 2000 and its aftermath, when seven people died and more than 2,300 were sickened after drinking contaminated water.
The ensuing inquiry, headed by Justice Dennis O’Connor, found that the tragedy was in part caused by government cutbacks that made the provincial environment ministry less capable of identifying and dealing with problems with Walkerton’s water utility.
In other words, it was caused by efficiencies implemented by the Conservative government of the day — of the same sort being advocated by current PC Leader Doug Ford.
Enough of so-called efficiencies. Ontarians need our government to care for us and to do its job providing well-monitored public services. Beth Guthrie, Toronto Thank you for the sad, moving and informative story of Robbie Schnurr, a 2018 victim of Walkerton’s contamination disaster of the year 2000.
Not highlighted is that Walkerton was victim to the slashing of provincial safety measures by the Mike Harris/Ernie Eves government, leading to its contaminated water.
Water-safety checks were downgraded as part of saving money in the 1995 PC party’s so-called “Common Sense Revolution.”
In 2018, PC Leader Doug Ford now calls this “finding efficiencies.”
How many people might Ford hurt, if elected, given his party’s dismal record of saving money while risking lives? Allan J. Fox, professor emeritus, University of Toronto and Western University Your article about Robbie Schnurr should remind people of the last time the Conservatives were in power in Ontario. This man drank tainted water in Walkerton and suffered from that for the rest of his life.
NDP Leader Andrea Horwath says the Liberals have had 15 years to implement changes. It’s taken at least that many years to correct the horrible mess that the Conservatives under Mike Harris and the NDP under Bob Rae created.