Province withheld contaminated soil findings for 30 years, Liberals claim

The Manitoba Liberals are alleging successive provincial governments have sat on an unpublished report warning of unsafe lead levels for 30 years.

The opposition party invited the study's author, Dr. Eva Pip, to the Manitoba Legislature Thursday to call on the province to finally unearth the report and act on its findings — but the governing Tories say they cannot find it. 

Pip's study found the concentration of lead near Sutherland Avenue was more than 100 times higher than levels currently considered safe. 

The Tories and NDP have been slinging mud at each other for months over accusations they each withheld troubling soil results during their terms in office, but none of their previously referenced studies dated as far back.

"As far as I know, I was the first person to draw attention to this problem and this was more than 30 years ago," said Pip, a since-retired toxicologist.

Heavy metals, contaminated produce

The former university professor no longer has a copy of the report, which, according to a 1988 Winnipeg Free Press story, found excessive levels of heavy metal in the soil and contaminated produce near two North Point Douglas scrap yards.

The NDP government of the day pledged to review the findings, the story said, but Pip said it appears nothing was ever acted upon. 

The province at least had a copy of the document when it was referenced as "unpublished" in a 2011 Manitoba Conservation soil report, which was shared Thursday with CBC News. 

Pip said her study found the concentration of metals was unevenly distributed. 

"This is why it's critically important now, more than 30 years later, to find out where those metals are at present because some of them may have travelled," she said.

Province needs to act: Lamont

Manitoba Liberal leader Dougald Lamont said the province's inaction is troublesome.

"One of the concerns here is we don't know," he said. "We've been trying to find out not just what's been done in terms of remediation, what's been done in terms of communication, but whether this stuff is safe or not."

I don't care who's to blame, I just want this fixed.- Manitoba Liberal leader Dougald Lamont

Years-old soil results were exposed this September when CBC News reported that potentially dangerous levels of lead were dug up a decade ago in Point Douglas and other Winnipeg neighbourhoods, but residents were never informed because the NDP government withheld it.

The story came just weeks after the NDP lambasted the Progressive Conservatives for not immediately disclosing the results of similar tests conducted in St. Boniface last fall.

Lamont said the public doesn't care for this political posturing.

"It's people in all sorts of areas who've said, 'I don't care who's to blame, I just want this fixed,'" he said.

The provincial government asked last month for a retesting of soil in various locations and will make those findings public in December, health minister Cameron Friesen said in a statement.

"We've previously released all known documents on this issue to the public," he added.

"If additional files and records are found, though, we believe Manitobans have the right to know this information and will publicly release it."