Anyone willing to put a spotlight on the health of Lake Simcoe is moving in the right direction, says Barrie-Innisfil MPP Andrea Khanjin.
Ontario Liberal leadership candidate Michael Coteau has unveiled an environmental plan that focuses on protecting Ontario’s natural beauty, including a new Lake Simcoe protection plan, as well as expanding the Greenbelt and looking for ways to help people affordably transition to a low-carbon lifestyle.
“A green Ontario is not only an environmental imperative, it is a massive building block for constructing our future prosperity,” the third-term Don Valley East MPP said in a release. “We need to make sure our all our communities prosper from our plan to fight climate change."
Lake Simcoe is the largest lake in southern Ontario outside of the Great Lakes. Its watershed is home to more than 450,000 people and crosses 20 municipal boundaries. The lake itself covers more than 700 square kilometres in surface area and its watershed is more than four times that.
Previous reports on the health of Lake Simcoe have indicated human activity has "significantly affected" the ecological health of the watershed.
Development has changed the natural landscape, while "excessive" nutrients and other contaminants have degraded water quality and threatened the lake's native aquatic life, such as coldwater fish.
A new report on the health of Lake Simcoe is expected in the coming months.
Khanjin says the more eyes on Lake Simcoe, the better.
"I'm always happy to see that more people are paying attention to a very important part of our province, which is the jewel being Lake Simcoe," Khanjin told BarrieToday. "If you have someone who is running for leader of any party, who's willing to protect and invest into the cleanliness of the lake, it's a great idea."
Coteau's policy paper, entitled A New Focus on the Environment, touches on areas such as integrated transit, retrofitting public buildings, electric vehicles, incentizing carbon capture, protecting agricultural land from flooding and drought, ending the commercial exploitation of water resources, and incentives to clean up contaminated land.
"We have one planet, and we have only so much time to act to save it," Coteau said.
Coteau says he sees opportunities in every corner of the province.
“Unfortunately, that opportunity is too often wasted because government isn’t investing in the right things,” he said. "We need to dispel the archaic notions of left and right, and seize the opportunities that are going to make us all better off."
That's a notion Khanjin says she can get behind, by removing the politics around Lake Simcoe and its health.
"All of us have a role to play and take care, and this is a good example of that," she said. "I really hope that he's true to his word, because there's lot to do for the lake. All of us want to keep it clean. And I certainly hope the federal government is going to be investing some dollars."
The previous federal funding, launched by the Conservatives in 2010, came to an end in 2017 when the money ran out.
There has been no shortage of politicking around Lake Simcoe.
Last September, during the federal election campaign, local Conservative candidates Doug Shipley (Barrie-Springwater-Oro-Medonte), John Brassard (Barrie-Innisfil) and Scot Davidson (York-Simcoe) held a press conference along the shores of Kempenfelt Bay in Barrie to pledge $30 million in funding over four years to reinstate the Lake Simcoe Clean-Up Fund.
Eighteen days later, Liberal candidates Brian Kalliecharan and Lisa-Marie Wilson, alongside cabinet minister Chrystia Freeland, held their own press conference at the Southshore Centre and upped the ante by announcing $40 million over four years.
For Khanjin, she said that was "a little too much politics" for her as an outside observer, and shouldn't have become an election issue in the waning days of the campaign.
While Liberal leader Justin Trudeau won a minority government, Shipley, Brassard and Davidson, as well as fellow watershed MP Bruce Stanton (Simcoe North), were all elected and sent to Ottawa to represent Lake Simcoe-area constituents and say they plan to hold the Liberals to account on their promise.
"There's a lot of talk when it comes to the lake," Khanjin said, "and I think once you see action, that's when you'll see the true results."
Khanjin says it's "refreshing" to have people such as Coteau come up with new ideas about how to improve the lake's health.
"There's often people that jump to criticize," she said. "Our government's looking for solutions when it comes to the environment, so it's good to see that he stepped up to the plate and offered some solutions."
However, Coteau also says the provincial government can do better.
"Climate change is an urgent threat," he said. "Since elected, the Ford Conservative government has denied and downplayed this threat, dragging us backwards, wasting millions on gas pump stickers and a politicized court case to fight a federal Liberal government that takes climate change seriously."
However, Khanjin says the PC government has made strides, including the first climate-change impact assessment across all of Ontario and how it affects communities, as well as how mitigation and resilience plans can be implemented.
"What might work for Barrie might not work for Kenora," she said.
"If you look at the history of Lake Simcoe as a watershed and the amount of economic activity that has happened around it, it's a top priority for anyone who is in the Lake Simcoe area, but also for the provincial government," Khanjin added, citing eco-tourism and the lake's overall impact on growth in the region.
Khanjin says the province also recently increased monetary penalties through legislation for those who pollute, and continues to work toward emission reduction targets.
"We are keen to get to our greenhouse-gas emission target by 2030 and, obviously, our environment plan is constantly evolving to get us to that target," she said.
Coteau says the province's actions need to be "bold and decisive, in the spirit of previous Liberal governments."
"The McGuinty Liberals didn’t close only a few coal plants or eliminate just a handful of smog days — they pledged to end them, and then did so," he added.
Khanjin says she'll continue to fight to improve the health of Lake Simcoe, adding there's always room for improvement.
"Lake Simcoe was a large priority for me in the (provincial) election and, as parlimentary assistant to the minister of the environment, I think I can do more," she said.
The Lake Simcoe Protection Act is up for a 10-year review and the province is working on ways to protect the lake. That includes working with the agricultural community and conservation authorities, Khanjin says.
"In terms of the phorphorous levels, there has been a reduction," Khanjin said. "But there's still more work to do. One of the newer issues with the lake is invasive species.
"I've been doing some work on that with Ducks Unlimited, as well," she added. "Things are only devolving when it comes to the environment and nature, so with the health of Lake Simcoe, while it is improving, there's always more work that needs to be done."
