Neighbours of the notorious Sydney tar ponds expect their class
action to be certified this month. The neighbours want to sue the
Federal and Provincial governments for exposing them to
contaminants from the old Sysco steel plant, coke works and tar
ponds. The motion judge required the would – be
plaintiffs to come back with a narrower definition of the class and
a revised litigation plan, which he will rule on mid-month.
The case has many ironies. For one, the Sysco plant was kept
operating (and polluting) long after it should have closed, by huge
federal subsidies. This was political pork to preserve coal-mining
and steel making jobs (and property values) in Nova Scotia, paid
for largely by taxes from outside Nova Scotia.
