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p12 tribune march 6 1991 reenfocus rzr rookie mpp thrust into environmental role ndps larry oconnor adjusts to new job in provincial environment ministry sisss to the interests of small towns like stouffville and uxbridge living in the long shadow of toronto and its burgeoning suburbs when he travelled to his wifes hometown in germany last year for mike maunder correspondent when larry oconnor moved into his new office about six months ago it was a bit of a shock last september the rookie mpp for durhamyork moved from his job on the assembly line in oshawa to become parliamentary assistant to environment minister ruth grier i dont know if anyone was more surprised on september 6 than me and the 72 other new democrats who were elected he said recently in an interview from his new 14th story office overlooking avenue rd in toronto his office is directly below ruth griers and his role is liaison between her and all mpps on questions relating the the gta or greater toronto area with only six months under his belt at the environment ministry its still an office and a role that he feels awkward in files sometimes get lost speeches lack the polish of the mandarins of the past the suit and tie the committee meetings and the deputy ministers are a far cry from the afternoon shift at general motors but many of the issues being considered by the gta office are close wsbm reduce reuse recycle town of whitchurch- stouffville y 9m community was able to maintain its identity in the shadow of a huge metropolis growth study her village is in the same relationship as sunderland is to toronto he said speaking of his own home town the method of growth in the area around toronto including sunderland and uxbridge and stouffville- is one of the main jobs the gta is handling under the formal liberal government the gta office launched a massive urban concepts study which defined the three possible ways metro toronto could grow one is the kind of urban sprawl that has gobbled up farmland for the last 40 years a second is intensification concentrating growth in already builtup areas of toronto and suburbs the third is nodular creating compact and intensively developed areas near toronto such as seaton the proposed community near whitevale that study is still at the talking stage explained oconnor but he hopes the talking can include a wider variety of people than just politicians and planners what seems clear from the talking so far is that governments will be taking steps to introduce compact and affordable housing and eliminate sprawl developers will market what people want to buy he said what weve seen develop is sprawl but now were looking at the affordability of housing people think of affordable housing as not the most pleasant to look at not a good environment for kids to grow up in but it doesnt have to be that way such a change in planning and development would involve many ministries and levels of municipal mpp larry oconnor six months in office york battling wastes tracy kibble staff reporter household hazardous wastes should never end up in landfill sites and york region is trying to combat the problem for a second year york plans to hold two more events in may this year to ensure hazardous wastes are being diverted from the keele valley landfill in vaughan said neil embree director of the municipal branch of yorks engineering department all of our environmental initiatives are relatively new and although metros purchase of keele valley in the early 80s was a good deal for york region it deemphasized mcneil pharmaceutical salutes the tribune and their efforts to increase environmental awareness in our community k we encourage ever to ise recycle and recover lets leave our children a legacy that we can be proud of together we can make a difference m mcneil pharmaceutical 5691 main street stouffville ontario a johonlohon company alternatives to divert waste but times have changed embree told the tribune hi julylast year york agreed to hold two waste days in various locations throughout the region so residents could dispose of their materials safely the costs were shared by the region the nine municipalities and the environment ministry each household hazardous wastfr day hhw costs about 325000 of which york taxpayers contributed about 440000 embree said according to a report released last week by yorks engineering commissioner the first hhw day held in newmarket last october brought in 2029 vehicles the day was a success the report shows with a maximum of 380 vehicles being processed in a one- hour peak period the second richmond hill location handled nearly 1600 vehicles the region hired laidlaw environmental systems ltd a hazardous waste management firm which provided 55 staff to handle the materials received more than 100 whitchurch- stouffville residents dumped hazardous wastes off at the two locations which represents a 18 per cent participation rate but the low participation from whitchurchstouffville for both events can be attributed to the fact that they held their own hhw day on saturday june 23 1990 it is reported that they processed 298 vehicles during the four- hour period they were open and turned away at least 100 vehicles because they were forced to close early said embree the largest number of vehicles came from newmarket with an 89 per cent participation rate the lowest turnout was from vaughan with an under one per cent participation rate the commissioner found there were a total of 3588 vehicles processed during last years hhw days which is an encouraging figure and an incentive to continue embree said hhw includes alkyd and latex paints pharmaceuticals sulphuric acid fertilizers and pesticides and people are more than willing to get rid of the old products he added tentative hhw days for 1991 are saturday may 11 at newmarket recreation complex and at richmond green sports centre saturday may 25 yorks engineering commissioner is expected to recommend this week that the region hold two hhw days in may 1991 and that a budget of 600000 be approved for the implementation of the events government the gta office is a miniministry that has a coordinating role regarded with some suspicion by municipalities around toronto politicians in durham have been particularly vocal in decrying the power of the miniministry in planning decisions such as airports and landfill sites oconnor and gta officials met two weeks ago with durham officials to talk over a wide range of issues from seaton to landfill to transportation what people say in private is sometimes a lot different from what they say in p u b 1 i c s a i d oconnor of the criticisms that have been levelled at the gta office it is clear he said from these talks and others that there are major changes in store for the planning act which was put in place by the province in the 50s to regulate planning at that time with miracle miles developing all through the farmland around toronto sprawl was not the problem it was the solution the province is going to have to take a strong look at the planning actsaid 0connorwhen you have legislation something thats evolved sometimes you have to set it aside retire it and come up with something new among priorities in changing the planning act will be placing the environment at the start of the planning process and making some areas with important natural features offlimits to development uxbridge is a rural farming community he said there may have to be some legislation to protect it to control how growth happens uxbridge has the will to make sure their politicians have the environment at heart he said praising that towns record of forward planning the forward planning was needed now he said especially in the area of aggregate mining as pits opened and closed in the oak ridges moraine around uxbridge town officials said theyre still waiting for the ministry of natural resources to release its report on new standards for aggregate mining looking back on the first six months of the ndp government oconnor pointed to several steps already taken to protect the environment gta talks continue announcements terminating pi and other controversial landfill sites the moratorium on nuclear development and the positive response of the bottling industry to tougher standards looking forward to the next six months he sees several steps in the works gta planning talks will continue garbage decisions will be made after formation of a public authority to control landfills environmental bills to be introduced this spring will include changes to the eaa process and environmental bill of rights and a safe water drinking act but it was while discussing the last topic an act setting standards for distributors of public drinking water that some of the strains of the new ndp office showed through the file on the safe drinking water act had been misplaced oconnor said hell send a copy when he finds it