A maverick might just be what Ontario needs

By Jay Arthur

You have to like Ontario's new minister of the environment and energy, and house leader.
Chris Stockwell is a real person. You don't have to agree with him on everything. But you have to appreciate the direct approach of the man many have called a maverick.
He is a maverick because he hasn't always toed the party line and doesn't appear to be afraid of saying what he thinks.
It is interesting, is it not, that the only person who actually made waste management a part of his platform in the Tory leadership campaign, and who loudly espoused the notion of deposit return for the LCBO, was picked by Premier Ernie Eves to look after the environment portfolio?
Assuming the road show and associated responsibilities surrounding the proposed sale of Hydro One ever allows him to actually step foot in his office, Mr. Stockwell will note a large pile of papers on his desk.
If he ever finds time to look in his environment in-tray, he may find a copy of Bill 90.
He may even find a copy of the position paper on recycling he wrote during the leadership campaign (and faithfully reproduced on Page 3/6, I note).
Somewhere closer to the top perhaps will be a copy of the recent staff report in Toronto that lamented the lot of  the glass recycling program. There are 18,000 tonnes of  broken glass  that cannot be recycled and 4,500 tonnes of coloured glass for which a continued market is highly doubtful. 
And he will flip back to his position paper and say to himself, "This is nuts!" (or something suitably maverick-like).
The vast majority of glass out there comes from the same place--the liquor store. The vast majority of wine bottles could easily be refilled, and those that couldn't, could certainly be recycled in  a clean stream that would produce fewer residues. If municipalities weren't compelled by law, or bribed by LCBO funding to collect glass they would drop it in a second.
So here's the challenge, Minister Stockwell.
You already have some kind of tacit approval from your boss to bring your position paper back to the top of the pile. You

were quite up-front about it, and no one seriously challenged the wisdom. Ms Witmer made some positive remarks about Bill 90 but she had to say something. It was announced on her watch.
The new Premier has shown he does have the flexibility to at least look at other ideas (unlike his predecessor). Just look at the hydro issue--in the other in-tray, Mr. Minister.
You might even be able to push ahead with the LCBO deposit return idea within the context of the bill. It's right there: Section 24.
"A waste diversion program developed under this Act for a designated waste may include the following:

1. Activities to reduce, reuse and recycle the designated waste."