Madam Speaker, I thank the member for Davenport for raising this important issue which the Minister of the Environment has taken seriously.
In September 1997 the federal Minister of the Environment expressed her concerns regarding the Ontario Hydro situation in a letter to her provincial counterpart, Norm Sterling. She encouraged Mr. Sterling to ensure that Ontario Hydro took full account of environmental issues as it developed its recovery strategy.
As the House may know, Ontario has laid up some of its nuclear power plants and is using more of its fossil fuel fire power plants like the Lennox plant to ensure Ontario's energy demand is met. The member will be pleased to know that Ontario Hydro has indicated that it plans to modify two of the units at Lennox so that they will operate on natural gas, which of course is a cleaner fuel than oil.
In Mr. Sterling's response to the minister he ensured that they would look at the mitigation of the environmental impacts of Ontario Hydro's recovery plan and that it would be a major consideration for the all-party select committee on Ontario Hydro nuclear affairs formed by the provincial government as would the investigation of the economic and environmental viability of alternative energy supply options.
Our Minister of the Environment is prepared to discuss this issue again with Mr. Sterling to further impress upon him the need to ensure that the electricity supplied by Ontario Hydro is generated in a manner that is both safe and environmentally sound and to encourage him to consider actions to further reduce air pollution in Ontario.
Mr. Sterling's ministry has placed a cap on nitrogen oxides and sulphur dioxide emissions from Ontario Hydro facilities and the company has indicated that it will continue to meet those demands. Minister Sterling is also aware that further reductions in those emissions will be necessary in order to address both domestic and transboundary acid rain and smog issues.