Province withheld contaminated soil findings for 30 years, Liberals claim

The Manitoba Liberals arealleging successive provincial governments have sat on an unpublished report warning of unsafe lead levelsfor 30 years.

The opposition party invitedthe study'sauthor, Dr. Eva Pip,to the Manitoba Legislature Thursday to call on the province to finally unearth the report and act on its findingsbut the governing Tories say they cannot find it.

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

The Tories and NDPhave been slingingmud at each other for months over accusations they each withheld troubling soil results during their terms in office, but none of their previously referencedstudies 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, asince-retired toxicologist.

Heavy metals, contaminated produce

The formeruniversity 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 producenear two North Point Douglas scrap yards.

The NDPgovernment 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The province at least had a copy of the documentwhen it was referenced as"unpublished" in a 2011 Manitoba Conservation soil report, which was shared Thursday with CBCNews.

Pip said her studyfound 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 leaderDougaldLamont 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 exposedthisSeptember when CBC News reported thatpotentially dangerous levels of lead were dug up a decade ago in Point Douglas and other Winnipeg neighbourhoods, but residents were never informed because the NDPgovernment withheld it.

The storycame just weeks afterthe NDP lambasted the Progressive Conservativesfornot immediately disclosing the results of similar testsconducted 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 ofsoil in various locations and will make those findingspublic 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.

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