TORONTO - A Liberal cabinet minister's opposition to storing nuclear waste in his Sudbury riding shows the government's nuclear strategy is flawed and raises questions about plans to bring new energy projects online despite community outrage, critics charged Monday.
The New Democrats said Correctional Services Minister Rick Bartolucci was condemning Ontario's nuclear policy when he urged Sudbury city council last week to veto the storage of radioactive waste.
"I challenge (Premier Dalton) McGuinty to produce a single member of his cabinet or caucus who's prepared to stand up in their community, urging that community to accept a nuclear waste storage site as a long-term project," New Democrat Peter Kormos said.
Bartolucci's comments call into question the province's warnings that it won't tolerate community opposition when it comes to bringing energy sources like wind turbines online, Kormos said.
Bartolucci said he isn't against the government's nuclear strategy, but it's his duty to stand up for his constituents.
"As MPP for Sudbury, I will always articulate my constituents' point of view and support my government's initiatives," Bartolucci said.
"I see absolutely no conflict with that."
No one in Sudbury wants the nuclear waste, and he won't apologize for protecting the interests of the residents in his riding since it's his job "to articulate the concerns of my residents and what their fears are," he said.
Bartolucci asked Sudbury city council last Thursday to oppose a proposal by the Nuclear Waste Management Organization that would see a large nuclear waste repository built in Sudbury.
"There is no dollar figure, no salary, and no number of jobs that would be worth risking the health of our children, our landscape and our future," Bartolucci said in a statement.
"We are not the dumping ground for Canada's nuclear waste, nor do we ever want to be."
McGuinty acknowledged Monday there are dangers associated with nuclear waste, but said there are strong rules in place to protect the environment and contain the hazardous materials.
"The good news is that we know how to contain it and we know how to store it -- unlike carbon dioxide emissions coming from coal-fired generators," McGuinty said in the legislature, without directly addressing Bartolucci's comments.
"That's why we've chosen to proceed with more nuclear energy."
Energy Minister George Smitherman said he doesn't share Bartolucci's reservations, but defended the comments, saying his colleague "is allowed to be a local MPP" as well as a cabinet minister.
"I've seen the way we deal with the waste -- it's very, very well-contained, and I think that communities out there should, for their own right, consider those issues," Smitherman said.
Smitherman also dismissed questions about a disconnect between Bartolucci's statement and the government's stand against so-called "not in my backyard" syndrome, or NIMBYism, that has created roadblocks for new energy projects.
McGuinty said in February that NIMBYism will no longer be tolerated by the Ontario government, and promised legislation that would stop special interest groups or municipal governments from trying to block green energy projects for anything other than safety or environmental concerns.
The waste proposal, Smitherman said, "is based on the notion that there must be a willing host, so if that community has said they're not willing to consider that and they're not interested in the economic benefits associated with it, then it's left to other communities to consider."
