NDP Leader Andrea Horwath called on the McGuinty Liberals to stop the County of Simcoe from building a landfill on top of the Alliston aquifer.

““This beautiful spot is the wrong place to start dumping 40,000 tons of garbage a year,” said Horwath. “We should be protecting what scientists call one of the cleanest sources of freshwater in the world.”

Horwath joined local citizens and supporters including Maude Barlow of Council of Canadians, and television personality Dale Goldhawk to stop Site 41 from becoming a landfill.

The site is the primary water source for surrounding municipalities and flows into local rivers and creeks. The landfill site is now awaiting final approval from the McGuinty government which could see the dumping of 40,000 tonnes of domestic and commercial waste start this year.

Horwath said First Nations communities in the area have not been adequately consulted about the development, and the threat of a dump will have harmful effects on entire ecosystems and pollute the water system.

“This water source is a gift and the McGuinty Liberals should be protecting it - not destroying it,” said Horwath.