– Perennial plumes of black soot emissions falling from the sky signal an urgent need for concerted government action on solving Hamilton’s soot fallout saga, Hamilton Centre MPP Andrea Horwath said today.

“Soot is a recurring problem in Hamilton. I’m calling on the McGuinty government to hold a Soot Summit to take an in-depth, solution-focused approach. We need to look at the health impacts, particularly on children, to find out what’s happening when people are forced to breathe this stuff,” said Horwath.

Horwath wants Dalton McGuinty to orchestrate a Soot Summit involving a number of government ministries to deal with the multi-faceted problem.

“This debacle goes beyond the Ministry of Environment and should also involve the ministries of health, research and innovation, and health promotion as well as concerned residents, environmentalists, political representatives and industry,” said Horwath.

Horwath noted the Soot Summit should look at compensation to ensure a reasonable measure of financial assistance is made available to residents stuck with the clean-up and property damage caused by the widespread and gritty soot.

“Our local environment ministry office has made some initial strides in dealing with some polluters, but the government needs a more comprehensive strategy. The McGuinty Liberals have been hiding under a tarp in hopes the soot fallout won’t fall on them,” Horwath said.

Hamilton has been hit with multiple deluges of soot for the past two years with Horwath fighting for action since the start.

Horwath said it’s long past time to take a broad and serious look at the causes and remedies.

“A Soot Summit is both timely and necessary,” she said.