ASSEMBLY OF ONTARIO
Official Record of Debate
(Hansard)
CONESTOGO DAM
May 2, 2001
Mr Ted Arnott (Waterloo-Wellington): My question is for the Minister of Natural Resources. It concerns a very serious issue, a top priority for my riding of Waterloo-Wellington, and that is the need to fix the Conestogo dam. The Conestogo dam controls water flow for the Conestogo and Grand Rivers, which affect the water supply of much of Waterloo region and the city of Brantford.
The gates on this dam are broken, and estimates place the repair costs at between $1.2 million and $1.5 million. If the gates aren't fixed, in a worst-case scenario the dam could fail or collapse in the springtime, resulting in a catastrophic flash flood in which lives most likely would be lost. In the summertime, water levels could sink below normally controlled levels, putting our drinking water downstream at risk.
I want to thank the minister for meeting with representatives of the Grand River Conservation Authority and with the president of the SuperBuild Corp, David Lindsay. In these meetings, we were informed that currently there is no direct funding mechanism that would enable the province to be a major partner in repairing the dam, as should be the case.
I would like to ask the minister, what can he tell the House regarding the scope of this problem, as it may be experienced by conservation authorities across the province?
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Hon John Snobelen (Minister of Natural Resources): I want to thank the member for Waterloo-Wellington for the question today because I know this is a concern for himself and for a good number of his constituents, and he has taken a very active role in making sure that I've been aware of this, my ministry has been aware of it and in fact going to the meetings that he's just alluded to.
As always, and as noted in the question, safety has to be the first consideration in any of these capital projects, in any of these major dams across the province. I'm pleased to note that in the Brantford Expositor in March of this year there was a story that read, "Contrary to some reports, a Grand River Conservation Authority spokesman insists the aging Conestogo dam is not in immediate danger of collapse and the organization is gaining wide support in its bid to help pay for the upgrades."
I was relieved to hear from the story, from the conservation authority and from my ministry that there isn't a real urgent safety issue for the public in this case.
Because safety is our first consideration, the Ministry of Natural Resources has begun developing and is well on the way to developing, in partnership with the conservation authorities and others, dam safety guidelines for the first time in the province of Ontario which will allow us to make sure these structures are safe.
Mr Arnott: I'm afraid I didn't see the article to which the minister referred, but I look forward to looking at it when I can. I want to thank the minister for his answer and for his continuing interest in this issue. Clearly this issue should be no more complex than providing the mechanism for conservation authorities to come forward and request support from the provincial government for infrastructure repair that is in the interests of protecting public safety, as the minister indicated.
I will ask the minister, then, does he support my recommendation that conservation authorities be provided with this channel to obtain funding through a class of applications that would be accepted from conservation authorities, and will he assist the Grand River Conservation Authority to fix the Conestogo dam?
Hon Mr Snobelen: I'm pleased to be able to report to the member that in February, in fact, there was a report that the Grand River Conservation Authority has been very responsible in this matter. I must say, in the relationship with the municipalities that are served, and there are many of those, included in their $17.3-million budget for this year was $600,000 for repairs on the dam this year and $600,000 for repairs next year, which in fact is what they estimate to be the cost of these repairs. I'd also note that $1.5 million of the funding for the conservation authority comes from the province.
I'm also told and I'm pleased to tell the member today that the Grand River Conservation Authority funding application has been received by SuperBuild and will be reviewed by them. I'm very pleased with the approach that the Grand River Conservation Authority and the member have taken to this critical problem.
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