This 2008/2009 ECO annual report was submitted to the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly on Oct 26, 2009. You can download the full report and see all related communications materials here. Click here to read other ECO Reports to the Legislature.

Contents 1 Building Resilience 1.1 Part 2: Resilience: The Concept 1.2 Part 3: Building Resilience in Planning 1.3 Part 4: Building Resilience in the Protection of Biodiversity and Resources 1.4 Part 5: Building Resilience in Infrastructure 1.5 Part 6: EBR Applications: Some Highlights 1.6 Part 8: Ministry Progress 1.7 Part 10: Developing Issues 1.8 2008/2009 Recommendations

Building Resilience

• Commissioner's Message: Building Resilience

Part 2: Resilience: The Concept

• Resilience: The Concept

Part 3: Building Resilience in Planning

• Introduction: Building Resilience in Planning
• Reforming Land Use Planning
  • Cost awards and SLAPP: Techniques used to chill public participation in planning decisions
• Lake Simcoe: The Province Steps In
• The Swiss Cheese Syndrome: Pits and Quarries Come in Clusters
• Bill 150, Ontario’s Green Energy and Green Economy Act - Preview
• Too Close for Comfort: Separation Distances between Industrial Facilities and Residences
• No Bike Lanes on Bloor: The Bloor Street Transformation Project

Part 4: Building Resilience in the Protection of Biodiversity and Resources

• Introduction: Building Resilience in the Protection of Biodiversity and Resources
• Protecting Biodiversity: Ministries Stake Out Roles
• Amphibian Declines: Canaries in Our Global Coal Mine?
• Forest Biofibre: To Burn or Not To Burn?
• Protected Areas: Nature Must Come First
  • Barriers to Protecting Ecological Integrity: The Wolf Lake Area
• Soil: Our Eroding Asset
• The Pesticide Ban
• Contaminated Sediment: A Better Assessment Approach

Part 5: Building Resilience in Infrastructure

• Introduction: Building Resilience in Infrastructure
• Transit Assessments: Is Faster Always Better?
• Landfill Gas Collection and Control Regulation
• Taking a Byte out of E-Waste: The Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Program Plan
  • The Unnecessary Dumping of Analog Televisions

Part 6: EBR Applications: Some Highlights

• Introduction: Some Hilights of 2008-09 EBR Applications
• Air Pollution: Hot Spots, Soot, Dust and Smoke
• Water Pollution: Leachate, Sewage and Stormwater
• Mercury: A Pervasive, Persistent Poison
• MNR’s Anti-Poaching Hotline: Is It Working?
• Richmond Landfill Site: Time for Closure
• More Applications of Interest: Caribou, Mining, Community Right to Know and Industrial Vibrations

Part 8: Ministry Progress

• Keeping the EBR in Sync with New Laws and Government Initiatives
• Ministry Statements of Environmental Values: One Step Forward ...
• Ministry Responses to Past ECO Recommendations
• Ministry Cooperation

Part 10: Developing Issues

• Nanotechnology: Tiny Particles, Big Risks?

2008/2009 Recommendations

• 2008/2009 Recommendations