With the increasing emphasis that governments are placing on protecting the environment from pollution, it is a tragic irony that governments are still the worst offenders.

The City of Welland has been dumping raw sewage into the Welland River for years now, and despite the fact that the concentrations of sewage in the river are higher than what is allowed by the Ontario Ministry of the Environment, nothing has been done. In fact, the matter didn't even receive any significant public exposure until Barry Fitzgerald, president of Freedom Party's Welland-Thorold constituency association, brought the matter to the attention of Jim Bradley, Ontario's Minister of the Environment.

In his response to Fitzgerald, Bradley wrote:

"Although this problem has a long history it is shortly approaching a resolution. As you may know from your discussion with Mr. T. Koch in my Ministry's Welland District Office, negotiations have taken place between the Ministry of the Environment and the City of Welland. The purpose of these negotiations was to request connection of the McMaster Avenue sewer outfall to the Welland Water Pollution Control Plant since the discharge was contrary to the Environmental Protection Act. The City has not made the connection and therefore my staff have recommended the City of Welland be ordered to connect the McMaster Avenue sewer to the Water Pollution Control Plant. The Order is presently being finalized.

"Your interest in environmental issues is commendable. I assure you the necessary action to correct this situation is being taken to expedite the sewer connection."

But despite promises and assurances that the matter will soon be rectified, it appears that a solution is still a long way off. As of this writing, the provincial Ministry's orders have been finalized but the City of Welland has refused to connect the McMaster sewage line to its sewage treatment plant. For the time being at least, the city intends to continue dumping raw sewage into the river --- illegally.

Whenever property is claimed to be "publicly" owned (as rivers are), the inevitable conflict of interest that arises between multiple levels of government can lead to consequences neither side intended. The privatization of "public" lands (ie. the assigning of specific responsibility for the maintenance of property) is a critical step in providing a long-term solution for environmental concerns. If property owners could sue for pollution damage to their property, the real cost of keeping the environment clean would have to be met.

Unfortunately, the voting public has deep-rooted prejudices, misunderstandings and fears about privatization and thus, unnecessary pollution of our "publicly-owned" environment will be with us for some time to come.

While a spokesperson for the Ministry of the Environment in Welland has admitted that the situation is having a detrimental impact on the environment, it remains to be seen how this stand-off between two levels of government will be resolved.

We will bring you further details of Barry Fitzgerald's activity in monitoring and pushing for a clean-up of the Welland River.

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Page last updated on April 28, 2002