UNRELENTING INDUSTRIAL/COMMERCIAL/RESIDENTIAL PRESSURE FOR DEVELOPMENT LANDS STYMIES PROPER CLEANUP

 It's happening here in Elmira , it's happening in Guelph and it's likely happening in every city in southern Ontario as well. In Guelph it's all about getting Ministry of Environment approvals  to allow the sale of the former IMICO lands both for residential development and for alleged parkland. The MECP first have to permit a Record of Site Condition (RSC) before development can take place. This requires a certain amount of flexibility possibly up to the Olympic gymnastic level in order to be able to say that the property is clean enough for development. Here in Elmira the same nonsense only less has occurred as Woolwich Council and the Region of Waterloo have falsely claimed that the lands on the east side of Lanxess are not contaminated. This is to allow both the Elmira By-Pass to go up the east side as well as to permit commercial and industrial development on the former Stroh and Martin farms.

Once again the corruption is throughout the system. It requires municipal councils, regional councils and provincial ministries (MECP) all focused on growth at all costs to be able to push against local citizens' rights to clean air, water and food. While my focus will be on Lanxess Canada at my next talk I may also touch upon IMICO briefly as it is a horrendously polluted site that has been allowed to migrate, dilute and delay proper cleanup for decades.