Ontario leaders pledge to clean up mercury contamination in Grassy Narrows
Concentration of mercury hasn’t declined in 30 years
GRASSY NARROWS, ONT. — The leaders of all three of Ontario’s major political parties pledged Friday to clean up a mercurycontaminated river that has plagued the Grassy Narrows First Nation for decades as NDP Leader Andrea Horwath toured the community.
The New Democrat leader flew to the northern Ontario First Nation to talk with community leaders about the ongoing impacts from the contamination. A paper mill in Dryden, Ont., dumped 9,000 kilograms of the substance into the English-Wabigoon River system in the 1960s.
A report authored by five mercury experts and released last year suggested mercury could still be leaking into the river system. Mercury concentrations haven’t decreased in 30 years and dangerous levels are still present in sediment and fish, causing ongoing health and economic impacts in Grassy Narrows and Wabaseemoong First Nation.
The governing Liberals last year committed $85 million to remediate the river, but the NDP has been critical of how they have handled the issue.
“We’ve heard today continued concerns about the lack of attention that has been given to the ongoing challenges around the contamination of the EnglishWabigoon River system,” Horwath said. “New Democrats, should we form government on June 7, are committed to a number of pieces to try to make positive inroads into the necessary changes that need to happen for the community.”
That includes making sure the $85 million actually flows to get the water cleaned, and ensuring people with mercury poisoning are adequately compensated, she said.
The NDP platform promises to clean up the river system, but doesn’t indicate how they would do it or if their plan would differ from what the Liberals have promised.
Liberal Premier Kathleen Wynne, speaking in Toronto, said preliminary work is starting now, but didn’t give a timeline for when people living nearby can expect the water to be safe.
“They are putting in place the conditions, the infrastructure to deal with the cleanup, because there are a number of things that have to happen,” she said. “Whatever leakage that is still happening has to be stopped and then whatever mercury is in the system has to be cleaned up, so that work is underway now and it will take as long as it takes. It has to be done.”
It is “a shame that it is not partisan” because governments of all stripes have failed to solve the problem, Wynne said.
Progressive Conservative Leader Doug Ford said in a statement that a Tory government would make it a priority to “work as quickly as we can to clean up the contamination.”
Ford also promised in a press release that a Tory government would allow beer and wine to be sold in corner stores.
Earlier in the day, he continued to face questions about allegations that a Progressive Conservative candidate who resigned was involved in an alleged theft of customer data at a toll highway operator.
Tory candidate Simmer Sandhu, who was running in the riding of Brampton East, abruptly resigned Wednesday night, citing unspecified allegations about his work life and nomination campaign that he denies. Ford, who was in London, Ont., to pledge that a Progressive Conservative government would cut healthcare wait times, faced multiple questions about the matter, which police are looking into.
Ford said as far as he knows, Brampton East is the only riding allegedly involved in what the 407 Express Toll Route company called “an internal theft of customer data.”