For immediate release:
March 30, 2005

If you used a washroom today – thank the sewage industry: Barrett

Queen’s Park – Haldimand-Norfolk-Brant MPP Toby Barrett stood in the legislature to demand action on behalf of sewage haulers who had traveled to Queens Park today.

After meeting with members of the Ontario Association of Sewage Industry Services both inside and outside the Legislature, Barrett invited government members to Rural and Northern Ontario to witness the growing sewage disposal problems.

“You may have visited the hundred or so septic trucks, tractor-trailers and portable toilets—I can hear the horns honking outside right now on Queen’s Park Circle,” Barrett stated. “And if you haven’t, I invite you to come down to rural Ontario or go to northern Ontario where these haulers are spinning their wheels as the options to dump their loads continue to dwindle.

“Like the visuals outside today, many of these hard-working haulers feel they are going in circles with this government while the pile of potential problems piles up.”

Barrett went on to point out that Ontario faces critical waste disposal concerns that rarely appear on the radar screen of the urban dominated Liberal Government.

“They don’t send this stuff to the moon - it doesn’t just disappear, it has to go somewhere,” Barrett asserted. “It’s quite simple. Rural Ontario produces waste, just as urban Ontario. Rural waste must be safely disposed of, as in the city.”

The Environment Critic then asked for action to support haulers in developing options for safe disposal.

“They don’t need a study; they need some action today,” said Barrett. “The question is, will this government give OASIS somewhere to drop their loads or will they continue to ignore rural and northern Ontario?

“If you used the washroom today, thank the sewage industry.”

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For more information please contact MPP Toby Barrett at: 519-428-0446, 416-325-8404 or 1-800-903-8629