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ARTICLE · 17 JUNE 2015

Creative Sentence For Ontario Concrete Company

Siskinds LLP
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A Sudbury ready mix concrete company, Rainbow Concrete Industries Ltd., pleaded guilty to one count under s. 30 of the Ontario Water Resources Act, for discharging concrete waste water into a Sudbury creek, and received a creative sentence plus a fine.

CanadaEnvironment
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A Sudbury ready mix concrete company, Rainbow Concrete Industries Ltd., pleaded guilty to one count under s. 30 of the Ontario Water Resources Act, for discharging concrete waste water into a Sudbury creek, and received a creative sentence plus a fine. This is good news.

Creative sentences, i.e. looking for remedial action, not just a fine, were common and effective tools when I was an Ontario Ministry of the Environment prosecutor. They are used widely by Environment Canada, the US Environmental Protection Agency, and many other environmental regulators around the world. Ontario, however, turned away from creative sentences some years ago, allegedly due to a reported opinion from the Ministry of the Attorney General that there was something improper about them. (I never did understand what.)

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