Environmental Commissioner focuses on environmental protection

Ontario’s Environmental Commissioner is focusing mainly on the cutbacks at the Ministry of Natural Resources in his annual report.

Gord Miller is casting doubt on the MNR’s ability to protect the environment, he says, “We need to empower our public service, especially the MNR to mitigate impacts and maximize potential benefits on the land the public owns, has the right to and obligation to fight for. The attack on MNR is the most striking example of how counter-productive dismantling the public service can be to the social, economic and environmental stability of the province.”

Miller also condemned the Liberal government for dismantling environmental protections, which he says could have disastrous results. Miller says protection for at-risk species has been gutted, while industrial activities continue to go unchecked.