News Release

Baird, Sweet and Wallace Deliver Action from the Government of Canada to Cleanup Hamilton Harbour

HAMILTON, Ontario, November 9, 2007 - The Honourable John Baird, Minister of the Environment, David Sweet, Member of Parliament for Ancaster-Dundas-Flamborough-Westdale and Mike Wallace, Member of Parliament for Burlington, announced today that the Government of Canada is investing $30 million towards the clean-up of contaminated sediment in Randle Reef in the Hamilton Harbour Area of Concern in the Great Lakes.

"Delivering action to cleaning up the Great Lakes and our Canadian waters is important for this government," said Minister Baird. "We know that Randle Reef is a priority and that is why our government is putting its funding on the table immediately to ensure that the Hamilton lakefront returns to productive economic and recreational use for the benefit of us and our children."

Hamilton Harbour is the largest and most severely contaminated Canadian site within the Great Lakes. It is expected that the Province of Ontario, along with municipal and local partners will each contribute one-third of the remaining costs.

"This is a great day for Hamilton Harbour and the environment in this area," said Mr. Sweet.  "So many have worked so hard and I'm pleased that our Government has recognized the calls that MP Wallace and I have made to address Randle Reef."

The project involves the construction of a 9.5-hectare containment facility (made of double-lined steel walls with a clay bottom), which will be built around the area with the heaviest contamination and be used to store the less contaminated sediment dredged from the surrounding area. Once dredging is complete, the facility will be capped with clean fill and two-thirds of the area will become a shipping pier and the rest a naturalized shoreline. The containment facility is expected to have a 200-year lifespan.

"There is nothing more vital to our communities and our people than clean, healthy water. It is what Canadians demand and my constituents deserve," said Mr. Wallace.  "The people of Hamilton deserve to have their waterfront returned to them and today we are taking a major step towards restoring the full economic and recreational potential of this harbour."

This major investment to clean up Hamilton Harbour is part of the Government of Canada's Action Plan for Clean Water.  Recently, the Government has also taken action to protect water quality, including tough new regulations against the dumping of raw sewage and improving raw sewage treatment in municipalities and first nation communities across Canada.  These measures will help filter out substances like phosphates, which can lead to excessive blue-green algae production.

Backgrounders on the Hamilton Harbour clean-up project and the overall Great Lakes clean-up initiative are available.

For further information, please contact:

Eric Richer
Press Secretary
Office of the Minister of the Environment
(819) 997-1441

Media Relations
Environment Canada
(819) 934-8008 or
1-888-908-8008