ENVIRONMENTAL DEMOCRACY AND JUSTICE

Sorry folks but that's just not happening in Canada and especially not in Ontario. Sure we have make believe environmental justice. We have public consultation. We have a Ministry of the Environment. We have an Environmental Commissioner and we have an Environmental Bill of Rights and all of them combined aren't worth five minutes earnings of one of the big boys in Canada. Money is indeed the root of all evil and it's also a very good indicater of the seriousness or not of our environmental protection. Our Ontario M.O.E. has fewer employees and less budget than it did in the 90's. What they are looking for now when they hire are public relations/media people and if they hire technical people they need to be very cognizant of the power structure. Independent, honest free thinkers need not apply. Ass kissers and toadies are always welcome.

Back in the eighties and very early ninety's we had what was known as Intervenor Funding. Individuals with confidence, knowledge and a sense of outrage regarding environmental degradation were able to challenge the M.O.E. as well as private polluters. With Intervenor Funding they could hire experts, scientists and expertise to assist them in presenting their cases to Environmental Appeal Boards for example. Those days are long gone because citizens indeed did challenge bad policy and bad decisions of the Ontario Ministry of the Environment. It was much more difficult even for biased Boards and Tribunals to ignore evidence from professionals with credentials and reputations behind them. Nowadays there are roadblocks galore and the financial roadblocks are huge. Citizens need to be encouraged and assisted not denied funding and threatened to be charged with costs if they are unsucessful.