A few weeks back I created a provincial-municipal task force to work collaboratively and advance wastewater infrastructure projects is including the North End Treatment plant in Winnipeg which has been releasing phosphorus into Lake Winnipeg.
Our government is committed to advancing infrastructure projects that will protect our lakes and rivers, and make real progress to improve environmental outcomes for Lake Winnipeg and surrounding waterways. I am pleased to expand this task force so we can ensure outcomes are guided by people with expertise in these areas.
I am very proud to announce a new member of our task force. Jan Oleszkiewicz. He is a professor at the University of Manitoba, teaches courses in wastewater treatment, solid waste management, and wastewater treatment plant design.
The minister serves as the task force’s chairperson and Winnipeg city councillor Brian Mayes, chairperson of the city’s standing policy committee on water, waste and environment, serves as vice-chair. Michael Paterson, a senior research scientist for the Experimental Lakes Area, also serves on the task force.
The task force will focus on ensuring the ongoing three-phase upgrade project to the City of Winnipeg’s North End Water Pollution Control Centre—the city’s oldest and largest sewage facility—will be completed by the 2030 provincial deadline.