PROTECTING THE BASICS
MINING : RESPONSIBLE AND ACCOUNTABLE
Mining operations generate a great deal of wealth for those granted the extraction rights. However there are also significant ecological costs, which are paid by all Ontarians present and future. In many instances, the mining industry does not act in the best interests of Native peoples, the citizens of the province, local communities, or the variety of life forms with which we share this planet. The industry has diverted rivers, drained lakes, acidified the soils of Northeastern Ontario, and laid barren the entire Sudbury basin. Aggregate extraction continues to negatively impact many regions in Southern and Eastern Ontario as well.
Property owners are often unaware that they do not own the sub-surface rights to their property. This means their land can be staked by a prospector and exploratory activity carried out. We consider this unacceptable and would change Ontario’s archaic legislation in this area to give property owners a veto over such activity on their property.
The Green Party of Ontario would also:
- Prohibit mines in wilderness areas, parks, areas of natural and scientific interest, and other environmentally significant areas;
- Implement the green tax shift to make using materials in continuous cycles more profitable than the use of new materials;
- Levy fees on mining production waste to cover the externalized costs to the public and to the environment;
- Require substantial financial deposits/guarantees to cover cleanup and the decommissioning costs of mines;
- Levy fees on mining in the form of depletion quotas which reflect the limited supply of mineral resources and more accurately reflect the costs to the public and the environment;
- Require above-ground storage and on-site treatment of all mine waste water and tailings leachate before it is released into ground water or adjacent water bodies.