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March 11, 2009           Alberta Hansard          341-342

Environmental Self-monitoring

Ms Notley: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Suncor and its subcontractors illegally dumped dirty waste water into our rivers and lakes, and then they lied about it to the government over and over again. Even while he knew about this, the minister stood in the House and on the topic of industry self-monitoring told us, "We have the utmost confidence that that system is secure." To the Environment minister: how can you possibly have confidence in a system that asks the fox to guard the henhouse and then self-report on how many hens it had for breakfast that day?

Mr. Renner: Mr. Speaker, we have literally hundreds of such facilities operating around this province. The system that we operate is based upon monitoring, self-monitoring, and self-reporting. It would be, I think, inappropriate use of valuable resources within

Environment if we were to send one of our employees out to every one of these hundreds of facilities around the province every day to do the monitoring. Our role is one of auditing. Our role is one of holding the operators accountable. We take very seriously the instance that in this case led to charges being laid, where that reporting and monitoring is apparently not taking place appropriately.

Ms Notley: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Well, the system didn't work in this case. They did it for two years before you realized they were lying. Who knows how many other times industrial polluters falsified reports to the government? I don't know, and neither does

this government. Even after laying these charges, this minister insists that industrial self-reporting and the occasional spot check are good enough. To the same minister: given that they may have lied more than 90 times, how can you possibly think that spot checks can ensure the safety of our environment?

Mr. Renner: Mr. Speaker, everything we do in a civil society is based upon personal integrity. I would suggest to the hon. Member that there is probably the odd person in this nation that falsifies records on their income tax returns. That's why we have audits.

That's why we prosecute when we find them. I would suggest to this member that, in fact, the system did work. We did an audit; we laid charges.

Ms Notley: They had two years to dump waste water into the river. They could have destroyed a whole water system in that time. It

didn't work. Industry is responsible to their shareholders. They're here to make a profit. This Environment minister is supposed to be responsible to ordinary Albertans. He's supposed to be here to protect the environment. When industry pollutes, it's not because they hate the environment. It's because it's cheaper, and it's because this government lets them. To the minister: how can you be so naļve as to think that industrial polluters will just admit to environmental degradation when they clearly now have a track record showing that they won't?

Mr. Renner: Mr. Speaker, I can't get into the details of this specific case. The fact remains that the penalties are extreme, and we take as seriously, if not more seriously, falsifying records as we do the offence itself. That's why this court case is being heard. I cannot comment any further because there's evidence that's before the courts. It would be inappropriate to discuss details in this House until after the courts have dealt with it.

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