WINNIPEG – The Doer NDP’s announcement today that Manitoba has become “the leader in rehabilitation of orphaned and abandoned mines” is an absurd claim and flies in the face of reality.

Liberal Leader Dr. Jon Gerrard responded to today’s NDP funding announcement saying it comes nowhere near enough to make up for decades of lost ground in cleaning up Manitoba’s abandoned mine sites. That position was confirmed by Joan Kuyek of Mining Watch Canada (613-569-3439), who agreed that Manitoba has a long way to go to catch up with other provinces.

In contrast to far superior mine rehabilitation efforts in other provinces, such as the cleanup of the Kam Kotia Mine in Ontario and the Britannia Mine Site in BC’s Howe Sound, the Doer NDP has spent most of the last eight years doing next to nothing on mine clean-up as toxic wastes have leached into the environment in Manitoba’s north.

Even today, the toxic mine wastes at the Sherridon Mine site continue to leach into nearby Kississing Lake with serious environmental effects and economic repercussions.

“The NDP is definitely no ‘leader’ in mine rehabilitation – they’re so far back they’re barely visible,” Dr. Gerrard said. “A good leader leads by example not by self-praise. The NDP should actually check with other jurisdictions before making ridiculous claims about showing leadership. Let’s see some results on the ground first before we make any judgment.”

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Photos from Sherridon Mine and Kississing Lake available at:  http://www.manitobaliberals.ca/2007/08/sherridon-and-kississing-lake-eight.html

For more information or interviews, contact:

Samantha Charran
Media Relations Officer for Dr. Jon Gerrard
(204) 228-6707
samantha.charran@leg.gov.mb.ca