Ontario Politicians Have Dodged York Region Sewage Problem For 13 Years

"Georgina Island First Nation and other residents aren't convinced a new treatment plant will protect Lake Simcoe from more wastewater. With $100 million already spent, the Ford government is now proposing a pipe built under the Oak Ridges Moraine to an alternate facility".

"In October 2020, John Henry received an unexpected phone call from the Ontario minister of environment’s office asking for a meeting with no stated agenda or topic of discussion. 

Henry, the elected chair and CEO of Durham Region, thought he would be talking with the minister — then Jeff Yurek — but it was Yurek’s chief of staff on the line who informed him the government wanted to “bring the big sewage pipe that was going to go into Lake Simcoe into Durham Region.”

Henry, formerly the mayor of Oshawa, was surprised. This was the first time he, or anyone, was hearing of the government’s alternative solution to a heated debate over a new sewage facility that has lasted over a decade. The issue has been divisive for 17 municipalities across two regions east of Toronto: Durham, a region of almost 700,000 people at the very east end of the Greater Toronto Area, bordering Lake Ontario; and York, a region of over 1.17 million people between Toronto and Lake Simcoe."

Fatima Syed reports for the Narwhal March 11, 2022.

Source: The Narwhal, 03/14/2022