Mr. Speaker, today alone, as was the case yesterday and will be again tomorrow, more than 120 million litres of raw sewage and municipal runoff will be dumped directly into the harbour of St. John's, Newfoundland.
The chemical and bacterial cocktail being thrown daily into St. John's harbour is really a national disgrace that could be corrected if government would demonstrate the political will to tackle this problem.
The waste water treatment system so urgently required by the city of St. John's could reduce phosphorous and nitrogen loadings by up to 80%, biochemical oxygen demand materials by up to 90% and bacterial loadings by greater than 99.9%.
I and my colleagues in the Progressive Conservative caucus applaud the efforts of the St. John's Harbour Atlantic Coastal Action Program. We join with the concerned citizens of the capital city of St. John's, as well as the city of Mount Pearl and the town of Paradise in urging the government to immediately draw attention to this environmental disaster.