Speech (House debate)

{
    "time": "2022-02-03 18:50:00",
    "attribution": {
        "en": "Mr. Scot Davidson (York\u2014Simcoe, CPC)",
        "fr": "M. Scot Davidson (York\u2014Simcoe, PCC)"
    },
    "content": {
        "en": "<p data-HoCid=\"6913479\" data-originallang=\"en\">Mr. Speaker, in December I raised my question in the House of Commons about a proposed aerodrome in Georgina, in my riding of York\u2014Simcoe. In other communities there have been high-profile incidents where corporations use the false pretense of building or expanding an aerodrome or an airport to cash crop dirt. Because aerodromes fall exclusively under the federal jurisdiction through the Canadian aviation regulations, these corporations are able to dump tonnes of contaminated fill with no regard for municipal or provincial soil laws.</p>\n<p data-HoCid=\"6913480\" data-originallang=\"en\">Nearby, at Greenbank Airport in Port Perry, operators illegally dumped more than 2.5 million cubic metres of contaminated soil. They did this after they initially received permission to supposedly expand their facilities to runways. With the airport all but abandoned, there are now extensive and expensive costs required to clean up and restore the site. This practice has dire consequences for the environment and leads to significant financial hardship for municipalities and taxpayers.</p>\n<p data-HoCid=\"6913481\" data-originallang=\"en\">This has happened in other places too, such as Tottenham and Burlington. Now Georgina residents are faced with a similar situation. The sole director of the companies that own the proposed site is the president of a Toronto-based waste disposal company. The spokesman and contact for the aerodrome's proponent, Mauro Marchioni, is a lawyer who has previously represented companies in the waste management industry. These companies have been fined by the Government of Ontario for illegally dumping contaminated fill.</p>\n<p data-HoCid=\"6913482\" data-originallang=\"en\">At a special meeting of the Georgina town council to discuss this proposal, the proponent reluctantly admitted its plan was to dump more than one million cubic metres of fill on the property. That is more than 100 trucks a day. This is unacceptable. The proponent misrepresented the extent of its consultation with officials, the public and the Chippewas of Georgina Island First Nation, and were combative and aggressive when local officials asked reasonable questions about the proposal.</p>\n<p data-HoCid=\"6913483\" data-originallang=\"en\">There are other issues as well. The proposed aerodrome would be built on an ecologically sensitive area within the Lake Simcoe watershed. The site is protected wetland and is adjacent to active farmland and waterways that feed directly into Lake Simcoe. Also, the need and purpose of the aerodrome have not been made clear. There are numerous local and regional aerodromes in the area, and the planned length and direction of the runways will be unsuitable for most types of aircraft. This significantly limits its economic viability.</p>\n<p data-HoCid=\"6913484\" data-originallang=\"en\">Unfortunately, Transport Canada does not account for these factors when deciding to approve or reject an aerodrome proposal. This means that even if all evidence points toward this being an illegal for-profit dumping operation, the current regulations state that these considerations only factor into the minister's decisions as they relate to aviation. Even though regulations provide for municipalities to enforce their own soil laws, the aerodrome proponents simply need to argue that fill is being dumped at these locations for aviation purposes under federal jurisdiction to avoid further scrutiny.</p>\n<p data-HoCid=\"6913485\" data-originallang=\"en\">Is the <a data-HoCid=\"271245\" href=\"/politicians/omar-alghabra/\" title=\"Omar Alghabra\">Minister of Transport</a> aware of these loopholes, and what are the government's plans to address this?</p>",
        "fr": "<p data-HoCid=\"6913479\" data-originallang=\"en\">Monsieur le Pr\u00e9sident, en d\u00e9cembre, j'ai pos\u00e9 une question \u00e0 la Chambre des communes sur la future construction d'un a\u00e9rodrome dans la ville de Georgina, qui se trouve dans ma circonscription, York\u2014Simcoe. Dans d'autres collectivit\u00e9s, il y a eu des incidents tr\u00e8s m\u00e9diatis\u00e9s o\u00f9 des soci\u00e9t\u00e9s ont pr\u00e9text\u00e9 la construction ou l'agrandissement d'un a\u00e9rodrome ou d'un a\u00e9roport pour se livrer \u00e0 la culture commerciale de la terre. Puisque les a\u00e9rodromes rel\u00e8vent exclusivement de la comp\u00e9tence du f\u00e9d\u00e9ral aux termes du R\u00e8glement de l'aviation canadien, ces entreprises sont en mesure de d\u00e9verser des tonnes de mat\u00e9riaux de remblayage contamin\u00e9s sans \u00e9gard pour les r\u00e8glements sur les terrains municipaux ou provinciaux.</p>\n<p data-HoCid=\"6913480\" data-originallang=\"en\">Dans les environs, \u00e0 l\u2019a\u00e9roport de Greenbank, \u00e0 Port Perry, les exploitants ont d\u00e9vers\u00e9 ill\u00e9galement plus de 2,5 millions de m\u00e8tres cubes de terre contamin\u00e9e. Ils ont agi ainsi apr\u00e8s avoir initialement re\u00e7u l'autorisation de suppos\u00e9ment \u00e9tendre leurs installations aux pistes. \u00c0 pr\u00e9sent que l'a\u00e9rodrome a \u00e9t\u00e9 pratiquement laiss\u00e9 \u00e0 l'abandon, il faudra, pour d\u00e9contaminer et restaurer le site, proc\u00e9der \u00e0 des travaux importants et co\u00fbteux. Cette pratique a des cons\u00e9quences d\u00e9sastreuses pour l\u2019environnement et repr\u00e9sente un fardeau financier consid\u00e9rable pour les contribuables et les municipalit\u00e9s.</p>\n<p data-HoCid=\"6913481\" data-originallang=\"en\">Il y a d\u2019autres endroits o\u00f9 ce genre de situation s\u2019est produite, comme Tottenham et Burlington. Aujourd\u2019hui, les habitants de Georgina sont aux prises avec une situation semblable. L\u2019unique administrateur des entreprises propri\u00e9taires du site est le pr\u00e9sident d\u2019une entreprise d\u2019\u00e9limination des d\u00e9chets de Toronto. Le repr\u00e9sentant de l\u2019a\u00e9rodrome, Mauro Marchioni, est un avocat qui a d\u00e9j\u00e0 repr\u00e9sent\u00e9 des entreprises sp\u00e9cialis\u00e9es dans la gestion de d\u00e9chets. Le gouvernement de l\u2019Ontario leur a inflig\u00e9 des amendes pour avoir d\u00e9vers\u00e9 ill\u00e9galement des mat\u00e9riaux de remblayage contamin\u00e9s. </p>\n<p data-HoCid=\"6913482\" data-originallang=\"en\">Lors d'une r\u00e9union sp\u00e9ciale du conseil municipal de Georgina pour discuter du projet, le promoteur a avou\u00e9 \u00e0 contrec\u0153ur son plan de d\u00e9verser un million de m\u00e8tres cubes de mat\u00e9riaux de remblayage sur la propri\u00e9t\u00e9. Cela repr\u00e9sente plus de 100 camions par jour. C'est inacceptable. Le promoteur a pr\u00e9sent\u00e9 de mani\u00e8re inexacte l'\u00e9tendue de ses consultations aupr\u00e8s des responsables, du public et des Chippewas de la Premi\u00e8re Nation de Georgina Island, et il a r\u00e9pondu sur un ton agressif lorsque les responsables locaux lui ont pos\u00e9 des questions raisonnables au sujet du projet.</p>\n<p data-HoCid=\"6913483\" data-originallang=\"en\">Ce n\u2019est pas le seul probl\u00e8me. Ce projet d\u2019a\u00e9rodrome se trouverait dans un secteur \u00e9cosensible dans le bassin hydrologique du lac Simcoe. On parle ici de zones humides prot\u00e9g\u00e9es, \u00e0 proximit\u00e9 de terres agricoles et de cours d\u2019eau qui se d\u00e9versent directement dans le lac Simcoe. En outre, la n\u00e9cessit\u00e9 et l\u2019objectif de la construction de cet a\u00e9rodrome ne sont pas clairs, sans parler du fait que la longueur et le sens des pistes les rendent impraticables pour la plupart des a\u00e9ronefs. Ce point en particulier limite la viabilit\u00e9 \u00e9conomique de ce projet.</p>\n<p data-HoCid=\"6913484\" data-originallang=\"en\">Malheureusement, Transports Canada ne tient pas compte de ces facteurs pour approuver ou rejeter un projet de construction d\u2019a\u00e9rodrome. Autrement dit, m\u00eame si tout indique qu\u2019il s\u2019agit d\u2019un projet de d\u00e9versement ill\u00e9gal, mais lucratif, les r\u00e8glements en vigueur indiquent que ces \u00e9l\u00e9ments seront seulement pris en compte par le ministre \u00e9tant donn\u00e9 qu\u2019ils rel\u00e8vent du transport a\u00e9rien. M\u00eame si la r\u00e9glementation pr\u00e9voit que les municipalit\u00e9s fassent respecter leurs propres r\u00e8glements sur les terrains municipaux, les promoteurs d\u2019a\u00e9rodromes n\u2019ont qu\u2019\u00e0 avancer que des mat\u00e9riaux de remblayage seront d\u00e9vers\u00e9s auxdits endroits pour des imp\u00e9ratifs a\u00e9ronautiques qui rel\u00e8vent du f\u00e9d\u00e9ral, et ils peuvent ainsi se soustraire \u00e0 tout examen approfondi.</p>\n<p data-HoCid=\"6913485\" data-originallang=\"en\">Le <a data-HoCid=\"271245\" href=\"/politicians/omar-alghabra/\" title=\"Omar Alghabra\">ministre des Transports</a> est-il au courant de ces failles du syst\u00e8me, et quel est le plan du gouvernement pour y rem\u00e9dier?</p>"
    },
    "url": "/debates/2022/2/3/scot-davidson-1/",
    "politician_url": "/politicians/scot-davidson/",
    "politician_membership_url": "/politicians/memberships/4487/",
    "procedural": false,
    "source_id": "11495298",
    "h1": {
        "en": "Adjournment Proceedings",
        "fr": "Motion d'ajournement"
    },
    "h2": {
        "en": "Transport",
        "fr": ""
    },
    "document_url": "/debates/2022/2/3/",
    "related": {
        "document_speeches_url": "/speeches/?document=%2Fdebates%2F2022%2F2%2F3%2F"
    }
}