Heather Wright/The Herald

Both the Ontario’s NDP and the Green Party are promising to put pressure on Ford government to repeal Bill 5.

Marit Stiles and Mike Schreiner visited Dresden in early July as they tried to ramp up pressure on the Ford government to repeal the bill which removes the promised Environmental Assessment of York1 Environmental’s project at the former Dresden dump.

The NDP Leader told the crowd at a rally July 3, Dresden is the canary in the coal mine – a warning to other Ontario communities about what will happen because of Bill 5.

The province introduced and passed Bill 5, the Unleashing the Economy Act in the spring sitting of the Ontario Legislature. In it, the Conservative government reneges on a promise to require York1 Environmental to complete a full Environmental Assessment of its project at the former Dresden dump.

The company says a small crew is at work doing grounds clean‑up, grading, removing legacy debris and installation of basic environmental controls. It plans to use the site this year, under the same Environmental Compliance Approvals rules the former owner had.

But the company also is moving ahead with its regenerative recycling project which could bring as many as 700 trucks of construction and soil waste to the old dump tucked between houses on Irish School Road.

Stiles told the crowd of about 150 people, the rest of the province should take note of what’s going on in Dresden, calling it ‘the canary in the coal mine’ on environmental issues in the province.

Stiles says over the summer the NDP is going to work to put pressure on the Ford Government to repeal Bill 5..

“This is (Ford’s) playbook. He says one thing like he did on the Greenbelt. He promised us he wasn’t to do anything there, turned around and introduced legislation to carve up the Greenbelt. This is no different.

“And the reason I want to mention that to you is because you know what happened with the Greenbelt? We got him to reverse course. We won that one,” Stiles said as the crowd applauded.

“How did we do it? Just like this. People who care about the environment, parents who care about the future with their kids, farmers who feed our families, First Nations, who deserve first prior end informed consent on any project on this land; we came together, and we organized and we pushed back.

“And that is what Doug Ford and his government responded to; extreme public pressure.”

Schreiner, the Green Party chief, gave about 30 members of Dresden CARED and the community the same message July 11 at the Dresden Legion.

“We’re all committed to working together, to stand up for what’s right, to stand up and say that if you’re a deep-pocketed donor, you shouldn’t get special treatment,” Schreiner said.

“The fact that there are over 800 landfill sites in the province of Ontario and somehow this one got singled out to not have an Environmental Assessment apply to it? And then we learned that there’s been at least $200,000, if not more of donations flowing in to the Conservative Party tells you all you need to know.

“I think Ontario’s better than this…I believe in democracy. I believe in local voices, and I know we have councillors here – I believe those local voices matter, and that you should have a say, and you have a right to have a say, and not to have your voice dismissed, and quite frankly, I’ll say it, in a way, lied to,” Schreiner said.

“We going to fight for you. There are a lot of people around this province that are going to fight for you and we’re going kill Bill Five.”

And Schreiner added there is momentum across the province to protect Dresden from this legislation.

“What people have told me to tell you that not only are they fighting for their own community, they’re fighting for your community as well, asking the premier to keep his promise to have an Environmental Assessment. The Green leader added it is crucial the entire bill is repealed.

“Let’s say we convince the Premier to remove the schedule that doesn’t subject the Dresden Dump to an Environmental Assessment, there’s nothing that would prevent the Premier from declaring this area a special economic zone and allow the dump to proceed, regardless of what local or provincial laws say.”

Both Stiles and Schreiner plan to travel the province this summer talking about the Unleashing the Economy Act talking about Dresden’s fight pointing out under the new legislation, this could happen in any Ontario community.

Meantime, Chatham-Kent Councillor Rhonda Jubenville told the crowd at the July 3 rally municipal bylaw enforcement officers have been visiting the property since York1 moved equipment and a small building onto the site.

Officers, she said, are doing periodic checks to make sure the company is following local bylaws and not doing more than then current license on the property allows.

York1 officials say they’ll be applying to expand how much material and what kind of items they can bring onto the site later this year.

For the time being, officials said, they’ll continue to use the property as the former owner did with in the rules set out in the property’s current Environmental Compliance Approval.

“The property is already zoned for the waste‑management uses under the existing ECAs,” said spokesperson Laryssa Waler.

“If future phases require municipal approvals, York1 will engage the Municipality of Chatham‑Kent well in advance and follow the normal public‑notice and consultation processes.”