Saltwater Cities Wastewater Symposium
Halifax, November 24, 2001
Communique
Atlantic Mayors Call for National Harbour Clean-Up Program
(Halifax, Sunday, November 25/2001)-- Atlantic Canadian mayors attending the Saltwater Cities Wastewater Symposium here Saturday unanimously endorsed a draft discussion paper outlining the principles and process for developing a new national funding program for harbour clean-up projects.
The seven mayors referred the document to their respective staffs for comment and a preliminary outline will be sent to federal officials immediately. The final version is expected to be presented to the federal government by the first of year.
The Atlantic mayors suggest that any new national harbour clean-up program continue for at least five years, with an option to renew-- depending on the magnitude of the program and the financial capabilities of the partners.
Prior to the symposium, the 17 members of the newly established Atlantic Mayors Congress unanimously agreed that cost-sharing on environmental protection programs for communities with polluted harbours should be made a federal priority. Both events were organized and hosted at the invitation of Mayor Peter Kelly, of the Halifax regional Municipality.
Mayor Kelly said " We are appreciative of the tremendous input and the amount of work which we were able to achieve in such a short time on the proposal for a national wastewater program for communities with polluted harbours. I extend our sincere thanks to the Atlantic Canadian Mayors, their officials, and representatives of the various Port Authorities, federal departments and others for their participation and input."
The discussion paper aimed at the establishment of a new federal cost-sharing policy for harbour clean-up projects deals with 6 specific areas:
1) Principles to guide the program
2) Program objectives and evaluation mechanisms
3) Program scope e.g. funding, eligibility,
4) Approval process
5) Time frame
6) Communication program
Those attending the wastewater symposium included the Mayors of Halifax Regional Municipality, Cape Breton Regional Municipality, Saint John, St. John's, Corner Brook, Mount Pearl and Charlottetown, as well as representatives of the federal departments of the Environment, Fisheries and Oceans, various Port Authorities and the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM.)
Gary LeRoux, Executive Director, delivered a presentation on behalf of the Canadian Port Authorities at the symposium today. Other presentations were by Sean Brillant, on behalf of the Atlantic Coastal Action Program; Sylvester Fink, Sustainable Communities and Environmental Policy of the FCM.; Garth Bangay, Atlantic Regional Director, Environment Canada; and Faith Scattolon, Regional Director, Oceans and Environmental Branch, Department of Fisheries and Oceans.
The Atlantic Mayors agreed that an Issue Paper must be prepared describing the issues, concerns and needs in the relevant saltwater harbour communities, identification of possible solutions and the magnitude of costs to address the needs.
The Mayors called for a new initiative and new program to address the issue of communities with polluted harbours The federal government now cost-shares one-third under its current Infrastructure Program.. However, the discussion papers calls for sufficient flexibility to allow municipalities and the provinces various approaches for funding the remaining two-thirds. These could include grants, loans, revolving funds, a share of new tax revenues generated by various project being given to the affected municipal unit, user-pay charges or even private sector involvement.
The participants agreed that a joint federal/provincial/municipal ( and other funding partners) evaluation committee be formed to oversee the approval process for projects eligible for funding. The committee(s) should be provided with resource persons with environmental, technical, financial and municipal expertise.
-30---
Mayor Peter Kelly
(902) 490-4010
