November 2013
| Business World Magazine | 59
“We one of the leaders in getting the right
certifications for our new buildings.”
ENVIRONMENTAL
INITIATIVE
Another admirable project carried out by
Nova Scotia is the biggest industrial cleanup
in Canadian history of the Sydney tar ponds.
This integrated operation is dedicated to the
clean-up of extremely contaminated areas,
taking up to five to six years to complete.
Paul Lefleche, Deputy Minister of the Nova
Scotia Department of Transportation and
Infrastructure Renewal says, “We kept this
project in place and managed to stabilize all
contaminations. We also put in monitoring
measures while placing a series of parks in
the inner cities of Nova Scotia. This has been
an important project for Canada in terms of
the technology, development and methods
used.”
However, there were challenges which
came along as community consultation was
needed to move forward because of the
enormity of the project. In order to get in-
put from the community, the clean-up was
in the pipelines for about a decade as differ-
ent interest and environmental groups dis-
agreed and conducted protest. It also meant
that the cost of the project kept increasing.
Paul goes on to add, “The groups could not
agree on a common future, but fortunately
the government finally made a decision and
today we can see the results of the project in
the form of Open Hearth Park.”
