‘This is the hand I’ve been dealt’ says Pinsonneault

Heather Wright/The Independent

Lambton-Kent-Middlesex MPP Steve Pinsonneault is trying to reassure Dresden residents the York1 Environmental Waste Solution’s plan to expand the derelict dump will still have to follow environmental standards.

Pinsonneault is spoke to The Independent a week after the Ford Government quietly announced it wants to clear away some big environmental hurdles for the project.

In February 2024, the company tried to go through the Environmental Compliance Approval process for provincial approval for its plan to revive the dump. The company planned refurbish the dump originally used for fly ash from Dresden’s waste incinerator on Irish School Road and then bring up to 6,000 tonnes of waste a day from construction and demolition sites to recycle. The company also plans to bring in soil to be washed and repurposed and to bring hazardous asbestos waste before transferring it to a secure facility, such as Clean Harbors near Brigden.

The operation, according to York1’s own plan, could mean up to 700 trucks a day would travel the roads around the site. The Dresden operation, the original proposal said, would run 24 hours-a-day, seven days a week.

Ontario’s Environment Minister promised the Environmental Assessment just two weeks before the May 2024 Lambton-Kent-Middlesex by-election, which Pinsonneault won for the Ontario PCs.

But the Ford Government abruptly changed course April 15.

“We must ensure we have the tools and resources to respond to any unpredictable decisions from the Trump Administration,” says the government’s proposal to remove the requirement for a full Environmental Assessment on the project – the most stringent oversight the process has which can take years to complete.

Pinsonneault says he was told just hours before the province filed the proposal on the Environmental Registry of Ontario. “To say I was frustrated was an understatement,” he says.

Pinsonneault, like the government’s proposal, lays the blame for the reversal at the feet of the US President.

“The Trump administration honestly has the whole world up in arms. And it really does change people’s perspective on things,” Pinsonneault said.

“It’s unfortunate the situation that not only our province, but the country and and the world, for that matter, what position we’re in right now. There’s no stability anywhere.”

Some people, including Chatham-Kent Councillor Rhonda Jubenville, believe that’s just a cover for the reversal. She said the owners of York1 are big contributors to the Ontario PCs and “something stinks.”

Pinsonneault denies that.

“The reality of it is probably every waste company out there has a connection to the Premier. Probably every company that does anything for the province has some sort of a connection to the Premier. So I think doesn’t matter what you’re talking about, or what issue it is, I think you could almost, in every case, find some connection (to) big business. That’s what they do. Big businesses will support two and three different political parties.”

Pinsonneault is urging residents to comment on the proposal on the Environmental Registry of Ontario saying it made a big difference last year, when the Minister of the Environment ordered the Environmental Assessment for the project. And the MPP doesn’t believe this is a done deal. “I think what the province is doing is just keeping their options open.”

He plans to continue “actively engaging” with the Minister to bring the communities concerns to the table.”

And he wanted to remind the community that even without that full Environmental Assessment, the company would have to follow Ontario’s environmental standards. “All this is doing is removing the a process off the property, but they still have to go through the Environmental Protection Act and the Ontario Water Resources Act.”

Politicians, such as Chatham-Kent Mayor Darrin Canniff, have voiced concerned that without a full Environmental Assessment, the public and the municipality will have little say in the project. Canniff has already indicated the community plans to fight the province’s plan.

That’s the message Pinsonneault is also getting from community members calling his office saying “please continue to fight for us.” But he adds there are also other callers who say “you’re not doing anything for us.”

On social media, there were calls for Pinsonneault to leave the PC Caucus and sit as an independent MPP because of the Ford Government’s reversal.

“That didn’t cross my mind like honestly,” he said. “Not to downplay it, but I represent the whole Lambton-Kent-Middlesex riding and the Lambton-Kent Middlesex riding is going to be better off having a member that’s in government,” he says.

“I think I’m better serving the whole community.”

Pinsonneault says he will hold the government to account on the York1 project.

“I’m going to stay in consistent conversation with Minister of the Environment, I’m going to make sure that people’s voices are heard. I’m going to work to make sure that whether it’s the Environmental Protection Act or the Ontario Water Resources Act, and to make sure that all that’s done properly. At the end of the day, this is the hand I’m dealt now, and I have to work diligently to represent the community at the Ontario level.”