By Cecilia Nasmith
Northumberland-Peterborough South MPP David Piccini announces a $107,000 investment for three projects in the riding to help protect and improve the Great Lakes.
With much of the riding on the Lake Ontario shoreline, activities such as the ones receiving this support are part of life in Northumberland County. As Minister of the Environment, Conservation and Parks, Piccini is pleased to be able to announce this support.
“The health of the Great Lakes is closely connected to our province's health and prosperity – supplying water to our communities, sustaining traditional activities of Indigenous peoples and providing health ecosystems for recreation and tourism,” he said in the announcement.
“This funding allows local organizations and groups to take environmental actions in their own communities, building a better future for clean, green growth.”
A Greener Future will receive $30,000 in support of their Love Your Lake initiative, which will work with communities to stage 100 litter clean-ups along the shoreline.
The Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters will receive $27,090 to build community capacity to remove invasive species in the Lake Ontario watershed.
The Ontario Turtle Conservation Centre will receive $50,000 towards its work of conserving at-risk turtle species through conservation and monitoring activities.
These are three of 44 community-based projects that will receive $1.9-million in funding through the Great Lakes Local Action Fund, for which a call for applications was issued last fall.
The announcement noted that 20% of the world's fresh water is found in these five lakes, making it the largest lake system in the world. As well 95% of Ontario's agricultural lands are in the Great Lakes basin.
Both the province and the Government of Canada recently signed the ninth Canada-Ontario Agreement on Great Lakes Water Quality and Ecosystem Health, and Ontario invests some $14-million each year in support of projects like the ones receiving help through the Great Lakes Local Action Fund.
