Premier Doug Ford on Tuesday denied having any knowledge about the owners of a dump in Dresden that his government is offering a lifeline to, and that now could become the subject of an ethics investigation.
Through Bill 5, Ford’s Progressive Conservatives are looking to exempt the landfill from an environmental assessment they promised last year, just before a provincial byelection was held to elect a new MPP in the riding, Lambton—Kent—Middlesex.
There is intense local opposition to massively expanding the site’s use and operations, which its owners have proposed.
The Ford government effectively paused plans to expand the landfill by promising an environmental assessment of the site.
Steve Pinsonneault, who’s been the MPP for the riding since winning the byelection for the PCs last year, has opposed its expansion. Other PC MPPs have in the past as well.
The landfill is singled out in Bill 5. The legislation is more broadly focused on making it easier for projects, including natural resource extraction, to go forward. The cancellation of the environmental assessment of the Dresden dump site is unique within it and only a sliver of the bill.
As The Trillium reported on Friday, the owners of the landfill site in Dresden, with their family members and companies’ higher-ups, have been prolific PC party donors since the year Ford became leader. Records and a couple of well-placed sources suggest that some of those donations were for a few tickets to a political fundraiser for the PCs that Ford attended, shortly after his government promised the environmental assessment. The owners also share connections with a few people who’ve been key allies in Ford’s political career.
A few hours after The Trillium’s story was published, Liberal MPP Ted Hsu announced that he had written Ontario’s integrity commissioner, requesting that her office investigate much of the reporting. The integrity commissioner’s office is considering the request, according to its spokesperson.
Ford, at an unrelated news conference on Tuesday, said he wasn’t familiar with the owners of the Dresden landfill.“I don't even know who these guys are, to be honest with you,” Ford said.
“Someone said their names. But again, I don't look at who owns it, who doesn't,” the premier added.
Ford also defended the move to exempt the Dresden dump from an environmental assessment, citing the province’s need for increased landfill capacity in light of U.S. President Donald Trump’s threats toward Canada.
“Forty per cent of all the garbage goes down to the U.S. It takes one phone call from President Trump to say, cut us off. And then what do we do? We have to prepare — be prepared,” Ford said.
He also referenced the need for Canada to manage its own waste and not rely on the United States.
“It's an existing site (in Dresden). We need to expand it, and I'm not going to rely on President Trump any longer. We have to be responsible for our own garbage,” Ford said.
Shortly after Ford’s news conference in Pickering wrapped up, a group of Chatham-Kent residents, including activists opposing the landfill, and from nearby Indigenous communities held one of their own at the legislature in Toronto.
At Queen’s Park, they argued that allowing the landfill’s owners’ expansion plans to go forward could significantly negatively impact the environment and the lives of the 3,000-person town and beyond.
Stefan Premdas, chair of Dresden C.A.R.E.D., which stands for “citizens against reckless environmental disposal,” said he wasn’t sold on what Ford said about not knowing the site’s owners, or about the government’s rationale for the move. As he explained, plans proposed by the owners of the site’s company include transforming it into a much larger operation, including recycling processing and more.
“So I’m having a hard time believing that this is tied to waste,” Premdas said.
All the opposition parties at Queen’s Park are against the Ford government’s flip-flop on the environmental assessment for the landfill. Each of their leaders kept up their criticism of the move on Tuesday.
“This government will always promise anything and everything during an election, and then they turn around and break their promise, first opportunity they get,” NDP and official Opposition Leader Marit Stiles said. “The Dresden landfill was something they obviously never, ever actually meant … to prevent.”
“I’m very hopeful that the integrity commissioner will proceed with the complaint (from Hsu) and get to the bottom of it, because obviously the optics smell — the optics suck,” Liberal Leader Bonnie Crombie said.
“The fact that the premier has broken his promise around the full environmental assessment for the Dresden dump merits investigation … I don’t think (Ford’s) explanation meets the smell test,” Green Leader Mike Schreiner said.
