Its Budget Day-Let’s clean up the Ottawa River through this year’s federal budget! For years now, I have worked with environmental groups and the city in asking the federal government to support local efforts to clean up the Ottawa River. The river continues to be threatened by over 500 million litres of raw sewage flowing out of city pipes each year. It’s clear to anyone that this amount of untreated outflow is harming the river. The federal government has a role to play in preventing any further harm. That’s why I’ve called on the Conservatives to contribute a 1/3 share toward the Ottawa River Action plan to finally keep our river clean. The city has already earmarked the money, and the province has followed the federal government’s lead in the past. Some funding has been provided for earlier stages of the plan, but we still haven’t seen a solid funding commitment for the all-important final stage, which would involve building holding tanks so that when it rains, the sewage can be stored until it can be treated instead of running directly into the river. This is part of a wider call for stable federal funding for municipalities for much-needed infrastructure projects, including transit and sewage infrastructure. There are also other ways we can help protect the Ottawa River. Last year, I renewed my call for the Ottawa River to be designated as a Heritage River to promote, protect and enhance the river as part of a national Heritage River network. I have also called for tributaries of the river to regain their protections under the Navigable Waters Protection Act. Several years ago now, the Conservatives stripped many of the Ottawa’s major tributaries of these protections. I’ll be watching closely to see whether the Conservative government will finally come through in this budget and include their fair share to prevent our sewage from harming our river’s health.
Posted on: Tue, 11 Feb 2014 18:11:53 +0000
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