IS IT COINCIDENCE? UNIROYAL/LANXESS/CRA(GHD)/M.O.E./ WOOLWICH COUNCIL

I think not. All the great coverups and public misinformation are always from the same players. Whether nearly thirty years of junk science and excuses from CRA regarding the extent of Uniroyal Chemical's environmental damage or sweetheart deals and backroom deals between the Ontario Ministry of the Environment and polluting businesses in Ontario; the beat goes on. Include in these issues multiple corporations who contributed to the 1989 Elmira water crisis and were not implicated for years or decades later. This includes Nutrite/Yara, Varnicolor Chemical and now we are advised there is an additional few hundred tonnes of chlorobenzene in the Elmira Aquifers that can't be assigned to Uniroyal Chemical. Who to then? My guess is Borg Textiles but it begs the question as to how they walked away unscathed after the crisis. Perhaps shutting their doors ahead of time and getting out of town helped but even so their parent company should have been on the hook if indeed it turns out that they are the culprits.

What kind of a political system fosters this kind of corruption? That is also the common denominator. Local Councils know who locally swings a big stick and whom they need to suck up to in order to receive support for their political careers. The Province of Ontario also don't want to be seen as anti business or anti corporations in their dealing with large polluters. Hence it's all about appearances. Talk big but give everything away that big business demands. Safety-Kleen and Uniroyal/Chemtura/Lanxess essentially get what they want when they want it. The provinces's M.O.E. as well as local Councls make sure of that. Local Councillors are also inhibited by Regional government. On one hand the Regional government likes to be seen as environmentally proactive with things like green bins, recycling and public transit (LRT) while at the same time rolling over for developers and companies wanting to move into the Region. Hence many years ago the vaunted Region of Waterloo groundwater protection policies were derailed and watered down by the pro business regional councillors. Shameful.

Other issues such as election financing scandals and landfills not being properly monitored and contained are also on the list. The playbook is always the same. Deny, deny, deny and then hide behind your bought and paid for consultants. Or better yet always make sure your cronies and fellow travellors are involved in things like MECAC (Municipal Election Compliance Audit Committee). What a joke. Conflicts of interest are a huge issue but when you the Council define it as only being pecuniary Conflicts of Interest then you have essentially shrunken the problem dramatically.

It's all a game folks and those in charge make sure that they know what to say and how to act when confronted by the public. There must be a playbook somewhere for sniveling politicians although I will say at the local level there are some who are re-elected over and over again without adhering to it. If 90% play the game then these poor actors get carried along with the group's overall appearance.