world19News #71 - October 14, 2000

In this issue:
- City election: all-candidates meetings & an environmental showdown?
- Adams Mine: council passes; appeal to feds
- Another Ellis Park update

City Election - All-candidates meeting & a showdown??
We have confirmation of 2 all-candidates meetings so far in Ward 13:
Wed. Oct 18 7:30 - 9:45pm Swansea Town Hall 95 Lavinia Ave. Sponsored by Swansea Area Residents' Association Trustees, Councillors and (some) Mayoralty Candidates. (we've heard Tooker Gomberg will be there)

Tue. Oct 24, 7:00pm Warren Park P.S. 135 Varsity Ave Sponsored by Warren Park Residents' Association There may be 1 or 2 more ACM's - we will pass on the information when & if they are confirmed.

With 2 City Council candidates - at completely opposite sides in the Adams Mine debate -  Ward 13 promises to be one of the hotter battle sites in the election. For the first time ever, Toronto Environmental Alliance is taking an electoral stand on individual candidates. Their first "target" is Bill Saundercook, described by Gord Perks of TEA as "Toronto's environmental enemy number 1". See The Star: http://www.thestar.com/thestar/back_issues/ED20001013/toronto/20001013NEW02_CI-GREEN13.html

More info is on our website, www.world19.com

Adams Mine - next stage City Council passed the Adams Mine garbage plan on Oct. 11. One of the next targets for opponents of the plan is to encourage a federal environmental assessment. We received the following note from a reader:

Many of us are still reeling from the council decision handed down on Adams Mine. The email communication has stopped and people seem to be gathering themselves for the next phase. After viewing the media coverage and talking to activists, it is clear that one obvious action we can take right away is to phone, fax and email all the Liberal MPs in the Toronto area, asking them to push for a Federal environmental assessment on the Adams Mine proposal.

It is also important to contact David Anderson, Minister of the Environment. His contact information is: The Hon. David Anderson - Minister of the Environment Ph: (613) 996-2358 Fax: (613) 952-1458 Email: Anderson.D@parl.gc.ca

You may also want to pressure Hon. David Collenette - Minister of Transportation and GTA. He is responsible for the GTA and thus must be pressured to support an EA. Constituency Office: 416-447-5544 Email: Collenette.D@parl.gc.ca

Parkdale-High Park MP Sarmite Bulte can be reached: Ph: 416 952-0823 fax: 416 952-0889 email: sbulte@interlog.com

Other MP contact information is on the federal government web site: http://www.parl.gc.ca/36/senmemb/house/MemberList.asp?Lang=E

You may find that your MP -- like mine -- thinks there is no reason to do another EA when they have already been done by provincial levels. This position must be challenged, because the EAs have been deficient. Some of the reasons are outlined below - this information is found on the www.adamsmine.com website.

The environmental assessment contracted by Notre Development Corporation was reviewed by Brian Gallagher, a planner at the City level in Toronto, and Dr. G. Fred Lee, a recognized expert in landfill design. They found the EA did not properly address many issues, among which are:
· the impact that the proposed landfill may have on aboriginal land use in the area
· the true length of the contaminating lifespan of the landfill (over 1,000 years for some chemicals, according to Notre),
· the ability of the experimental systems designed to protect the environment to outlast the ability of the landfill to pollute,
· the ability of the proposed monitoring systems to detect leakage of leachate, especially in fractured rock, and to detect the presence of hazardous chemicals in surface water,
· the need to go further than Ministry of the Environment minimum standards, especially with regard to potentially hazardous but unregulated chemicals present in leachate and in the water to be pumped out of the pit,
· the accumulation of mercury and other hazardous chemicals in the fish and wildlife of the region which are used as food by our people, in addition to the elevated levels already present,
· impacts of gas emissions, odours, dust and noise and
· the ability of birds to spread disease throughout the region

I hope you find this information useful.
Helen Armstrong concerned citizen

And from world19: More evidence of the faulty provincial assessment is in the Star: http://www.thestar.com/thestar/back_issues/ED20001004/toronto/20001004NEW01_CI-TRASH.html

Also, a report on how Toronto MPs stand in Oct. 12 NOW: http://www.nowtoronto.com/issues/current/newsfront.html (this URL will change in a week).

There is no mention of Parkdale-High Park MP Sarmite Bulte. world19 spoke with Ms. Bulte earlier this week about a number of issues. She appeared to believe there was no grounds for a federal intervention - apparently unlike most of her colleagues. We encourage readers to contact her with your views. Contact information is above.

Ellis Park update
We received this from one of our readers active in the oppostition to the condo development beside High Park:

"The Ontario Municipal Board will hold a 4-day hearing, starting December 1/00, regarding the huge condo/retail development proposed for the corner of Bloor and Ellis Park Road, right next to High Park.

Last June, Context Development went to the City's Committee of Adjustment seeking approval to exceed the permitted height limit by 33% and the allowable density by 40%. The Committee ruled that the proposal was (in one member's words) "not development, but over-development" and turned down the application. Context is now appealing that ruling to the OMB. A City lawyer will attend the OMB hearing to defend the Committee of Adjustment decision.

At some point in the hearing, it will be important to have a lot of people turn out in order to demonstrate local concern over the issue. Once we find out more about the set-up of the hearing, we will let everyone know."

And, as always Input is welcome. We have begun to make our website available for opinion pages and other community groups. Please send us ideas.

For world19,
John Leeson

world19: Supporting citizen involvement in our community and its future.
Phone: 416 766-8605
Fax: 416 766-0578
email: world19@world19.com
web: www.world19.com