LASALLE, Ont, -- November
9, 2009 -- On behalf of Canada's Environment
Minister Jim Prentice, Jeff Watson, Member
of Parliament for Essex, today announced
$410,000 in funding from the Great Lakes
Sustainability Fund for four projects to
clean up the Detroit River Area of Concern.
Thirty-seven projects throughout the Great
Lakes are receiving $2.2 million in funding
this year.
"The Government
of Canada is using the Great Lakes Sustainability
Fund to support partnered projects to restore
water quality in the Canadian Areas of Concern,"
said M.P. Watson. "Locally, the Great
Lakes Sustainability Fund is supporting
projects like the LaSalle Riverfront Park
Habitat Restoration. These types of projects
represent real action to ensure that Canada's
communities and families can thrive in a
healthy environment."
With the LaSalle Riverfront
Park Habitat Restoration project, the Essex
Region Conservation Authority and the Town
of LaSalle will be using soft shoreline
engineering techniques to restore a stretch
of Detroit River Shoreline in a way that
will create and enhance wetland and fish
habitat. Irregular rock shorelinehabitats
will be built to encourage fish habitat.
"We're very pleased
to be able to help this community come closer
to the goal of restoring water quality in
the Detroit River. The Government of Canada
is committed to maintaining and advancing
the progress that has been made in cleaning
up the Great Lakes," said Minister
Prentice.
"The LaSalle Riverfront
Park Fish Habitat Restoration Project will
provide important habitat for a large number
of the 60 or so fish species that inhabit
the Detroit River. This will complement
similar projects completed throughout the
Area of Concern," stated Ray Renaud,
Past Chair of the Essex Region Conservation
Authority. "Additional projects focused
on water quality and habitat improvements
will be undertaken in the Area of Concernand
across the region, thanks to the support
of the Great Lakes Sustainability Fund."
Using the Great Lakes
Sustainability Fund, the Government of Canada
is partnering with provincial and local
governments and community organizations
to help clean up the 15 Canadian Areas of
Concern in the Great Lakes Basin. The fund
supports environmental restoration activities
in three priority areas: fish and wildlife
habitat rehabilitation and stewardship,
contaminated sediment assessment and remediation,
and innovative approaches to improve municipal
wastewater effluent quality.
More information about the Great Lakes Sustainability
Fund is available at sustainabilityfund.gc.ca.
Frédéric Baril
Press Secretary
Office of the Minister of the Environment
+ More
More Than 50,000 Vehicles
Registered Under The Government Of Canada's
Retire Your Ride Vehicle Scrappage Program
OTTAWA, Ont. - November 13, 2009 -The Honourable
Jim Prentice, Minister of the Environment,
today recognized an important milestone
reached under the National Vehicle Scrappage
Program, Retire Your Ride. The program encourages
people to scrap their high-polluting vehicles
and turn to environmentally-friendly transportation.
"More than50,000
vehicles have been registered under the
Retire Your Ride program since its launch
in January 2009, which will result inapproximately
2,250 tonnes of smog-forming pollutants
being removed from our atmosphere. The Retire
Your Ride program is an effective means
for the Government of Canada to take action
to reduce smog and improve the health of
Canadians and our environment," said
Minister Prentice
Funded by the Government
of Canada and delivered by Summerhill Impact
(formerly the Clean Air Foundation) through
a network of not-for-profit organizations,
Retire Your Ride offers incentives to Canadians
who retire vehicle models from 1995 or earlier.
These older vehicles are 19 times more polluting
than 2004 and newer model years.
Rewards vary from region
to region, and may include free public transit
passes, rebates on bicycles, memberships
in car-sharing programs or $300 cash per
vehicle. Participants can also benefit from
rebates on the purchase of new vehicles
provided by vehicle manufacturers.
"The Government
of Canada is proud of the results achieved
through Retire Your Ride and we encourage
Canadians to continue to take advantage
of the program and its incentives,"
said Minister Prentice.
For more information
on the vehicle scrappage program, please
visit http://www.retireyourride.ca/
Frédéric Baril
Press Secretary
Office of the Minister of the Environment
