I have watched with some astonishment and great joy as our various levels of government have learned to work together through this crisis as a non-partisan unit, but today my heart was left hurting as my provincial government passed legislation with the April 3 decision to suspend Ontario’s Environmental Bill of Rights (EBR) as a COVID-19 emergency measure.
We all know that the virus thrives in the bodies of folks with compromised immune systems. It is essential that we keep our community healthy and strong, but pollution makes us weaker.
We must not reduce the regulations that keep every Ontario corporation honest and real about managing their production wastes and garbage.
The responsible corporations need to be on an equal footing. They cannot be forced to compete against irresponsible competitors. Ontario businesses are not worried about fair competition from other Ontario businesses. They can, however, be forced to reduce their own standards when their local competition does so with impunity because our government allows it.
Please turn the clock back on this plan of action. It is unprincipled.
Patricia Rogerson
Sudbury