Polluter Pays and the Public Interest : A Submission to the Minister's Advisory Panel on Contaminated Sites

Recent initiatives indicate that the government intends to shift the delivery of services from the public to the private sector in areas that have traditionally been off limits. In the resource sector, the government has served notice that it intends to radically alter the manner in which all industrial activities are regulated in the province by downsizing the public service even further, and shifting from a prescriptive to a results-based approach. These changes will affect the manner in which standards are established and enforced, and will have an impact on environmental and human health. It is important that in this context, that a unique regime like the Contaminated Sites Regime not be restructured when it is already achieving these goals.