From The Ottawa Citizen, April 25, 2007. p. A5

Abstract

Data produced by Mr. [Gord Miller]’s office show that funding for the Ministry of the Environment and the Ministry of Natural Resources dropped off sharply in the mid to late 1990s under the Mike Harris Conservatives. At the same time, they show only a mild recovery under Premier Dalton McGuinty’s Liberals, who came to power in 2003.

Full Text  (Copyright The Ottawa Citizen 2007)

TORONTO – Ontario’s Liberal government passes lots of new laws to protect the environment, but is doing little to ensure the rules are enforced, suggests a harsh critique issued yesterday by the province’s independent environmental commissioner.

“Ontario is losing ground on meeting the most basic obligations for protecting the environment,” Gord Miller says in a report that describes how thousands of companies are operating with outdated pollution permits, raw municipal sewage is flowing into waterways and conservation officers are deskbound instead of enforcing fishing and hunting regulations because they have no gas money.

Data produced by Mr. Miller’s office show that funding for the Ministry of the Environment and the Ministry of Natural Resources dropped off sharply in the mid to late 1990s under the Mike Harris Conservatives. At the same time, they show only a mild recovery under Premier Dalton McGuinty’s Liberals, who came to power in 2003.

“There were drastic cuts in the early 1990s all the way through until we took office,” Environment Minister Laurel Broten told reporters. “Those cuts cannot be made up overnight.”

According to the commissioner’s figures, per capita spending in real terms on operations at the environment ministry was $23 in 2003- 2004, when the Liberals were elected, and is $22 this year. The low point over the last 15 years was $16 per capita in the late 1990s.

The Ministry of Natural Resources operating budget is $49 per capita this year, up slightly from $45 the year the Grits were elected. In 2004-2005, funding was $40.