Terminate photo ops, not environmental efforts, says OPSEU

'There’s something seriously wrong with this picture.' - Warren (Smokey) Thomas

 Toronto (1 June 2007) - Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty should spend less time posing for photo ops with California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and more time working to restore full funding to the province’s beleaguered environmental and natural resource programs, says the Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU/NUPGE).

“There’s something seriously wrong with this picture,” says OPSEU president Warren (Smokey) Thomas.

“On the one hand we have the premier rolling out the red carpet for Governor Schwarzenegger and saluting his environmental record in California, and on the other hand we have the report of our own environmental commissioner which took the McGuinty government to task for its failure to fully fund the ministries of the environment and natural resources. Photo ops are no substitute for the crisis we face in under funding vital public services.”

In his report released last month, entitled Doing Less with Less, Environmental Commissioner Gord Miller revealed that per capita government spending on the two ministries responsible for environmental management has declined 34% over the past 15 years.

“In 1992-93, the ministries of the environment and of natural resources accounted for $1.77 of every $100 spent by Queen’s Park. Today, that amount has shrunk to about 68 cents,” said Thomas. “This is the real issue that needs addressing and the solution is a made-in-Ontario one.” NUPGE