Ontario environmental audits report out today

By Neetu Seupersadsingh and The Canadian Press

Ontario’s auditor general has tabled a scathing report at Queen’s Park on Monday — pointing the finger at the Ontario government and highlighting several inadequacies when it comes to protecting the environment.

Bonnie Lysyk’s environmental report card gives the province dozens of recommendations when it comes to a range of issues, notably not consulting the public on significant environmental issues.

In her report, the auditor general found that the Ministry of Environment and several others “deliberately avoided” consulting the public on such decisions, they are legally obligated to do so.

In fact, four ministries made environmentally significant decisions over the last year without the required consultations, including Municipal Affairs.

“We also found that ministries, while not technically violating the Environmental Bill of Rights made environmentally significant decisions, and the public should have had a voice.  The Environment Ministry should be taking an appropriate leadership role, to ensure the public’s right to information and consultation in provincial governmental decision-making that affects the environment,” said newly minted assistant auditor general Tyler Achulz in a release.

Under the Environmental Bill of Rights, residents of Ontario have a right to public information and consultation on decisions that may impact the environment.

Here are some of the other key findings of Lysyk’s report:


Hazardous Spills:

The Environment Ministry is responsible for ensuring that companies have plans in place to prevent and respond to hazardous spills. Between 2016 and 2020, there were just over 40,000 of these spills in Ontario — 90 per cent of which were found to have negative impacts on humans and the environment.  The audit flagged a lack of timely and comprehensive disclosure about the quantity and harm of these hazardous spills.

Non-hazardous waste reduction and diversion in the industrial, commercial and institutional (IC&I Sector):

Ontario generates an estimated 12 million tons of non-hazardous waste each year. The IC&U sectors — which includes manufacturers, retail stores, office buildings, restaurants, hotels, university and hospitals generate the majority of Ontario’s waste.  However, only 15 per cent of that waste gets diverted. If that doesn’t change the province’s landfill capacity will be fully exhausted in the next decade.  Lysyk recommends the need for effective policies and programs to address waste in these sectors, and having a system in place to reliably measure and report on any progress.

Protecting and recovering species at-risk:

Globally, species are going extinct tens to hundreds of times higher than over the past 10 million years. Ontario’s Endangered Species Act directs the province to protect and promote the recovery of species at-risk.  But in Ontario none of these species were regulated in 2019 and 2020 because the Environmental Ministry was slow to appoint new members to the committee that classifies these species. 

Reporting on Ontario’s environment:

A comprehensive approach to reporting on the overall state of the environment would help decision-makers and the public make better and more informed decisions about it.  However, Lysyk pointed out in her report that even though some ministries — including Natural Resources and Agriculture  — report on things like air quality and forests, there is no regular report on the state of the environment, which would include things like soil waste, water and climate change.


Last year, one of the key findings in Lysky’s environmental audits was that the province might not meet its emissions targets because the government wasn’t prioritizing them.

The office of the auditor general is an independent office that conducts value-for-money and financial audits of the provincial government.

Lysyk’s audits were tabled at the Legislature on Monday morning with Schulz, who is also the Commissioner of the Environment.

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