...of Ontario to release 2010 Annual Report -Redefining Conservation.

The Environmental Commissioner of Ontario is appointed by the Legislative Assembly to be the province's independent environmental watchdog, and report publicly on the government's environmental decision-making.

Sep 20th, 2010 5:27 PM

Media Advisory

Media conference and webcast on September 22, 2010 at 10:00 a.m.

(September 16, 2010, Toronto) The Environmental Commissioner of Ontario, Gord Miller, will release his 2009/2010 Annual Report at September 22nd, 2010 at 10:00 a.m. Copies of the report, Redefining Conservation, will be available an hour earlier at www.eco.on.ca , or for accredited media at the Legislative Press Gallery, in Room 387A of the Ontario Legislature Building.

Commissioner Miller will convene a media conference at 10:00 a.m in the Queens Park Media Studio to answer questions about the report’s findings.

A webcast of the conference will be available and can be accessed via www.eco.on.ca/eng/ beginning at 10:00 a.m. Please note an up-to-date version Windows Media Player is required to view the webcast.

Some of the issues that are addressed in Redefining Conservation include:

• The conflicts between the government’s promise to protect half the boreal forest in the Far North, and efforts to develop the Ring of Fire.

• Why beaches on the Ontario side of Lake Erie and Lake Ontario are more polluted than the American beaches.

• The future of woodland caribou in Ontario and how well the government is protecting them.

• Environmental problems posed by aging landfills, and efforts by the Ministry of the Environment to track them.

• Natural-gas power plants, and the environmental assessments they require.

• Which plant and animal species will suffer, and may be lost forever, because of climate change.

• The health of forests in Southern Ontario, and the Ministry of Natural Resource’s plan to plant 50 million more trees over the next decade.

• The Ministry of the Environment’s development of new rules for regulating air pollution by heavy industries.

• Development encroaching on provincially-significant wetlands.

• How the government lets an unlicensed pit masquerade as a farm.

The Environmental Commissioner will not be taking questions via webcast, but will be available for individual interviews after the news conference. Bilingual support will also be available at the event.