A cabinet shuffle Wednesday, August 18 replaced the Minister of the Environment. The new minister, Hon. John Wilkinson, should be strongly encouraged to put a definitive stop to incineration.

Minister of the Environment: Hon. John Wilkinson <minister.moe@ontario.ca>
Constituency office: Hon. John Wilkinson <jwilkinson.mpp.co@liberal.ola.org>

The Minister should consider...

• The environmental impacts of the proposed Durham incinerator would be made worse by the already polluted air in Courtice (and in most of southern Ontario);
• Air pollution makes people sick, and sick people sicker — the Ontario Medical Association even put a real dollars and cents cost to the health budget due to additional air pollution (Illness Costs of Air Pollution study)
• The environmental assessment process appears to be badly broken and discourages public participation;
• A decision to approve could be the template for a mushrooming of incinerator applications across Ontario;
• Incinerators require a predictable amount of material for long contract periods to recoup the high capital costs — this stifles increased recycling and reduction;
• Approving an incinerator, with its requirement for a steady flow of material to burn, would directly conflict with the stated objectives of the Ministry's review of the Waste Diversion Act, namely to reduce waste and improve diversion — this could send a confusing mixed message to industry, municipalities and all Ontarians;
• Incinerators encourage wasteful consumption of materials, which in turn contributes to global warming because mining, refining, manufacturing, transport and disposal produce greenhouse gases.