Sydney Tar Ponds

The Sydney Tar Ponds is Canada's worst contaminated site with 700,000 tonnes of toxic-laden soil due largely to wastes from some old coke ovens. This site is in the centre of an urban community that has a population of 30,000 people. The cost of full remediation of the site is said to be $500-800 million or even higher.

In 1996, the federal government agreed to participate in community-based remediation efforts with the two other levels of government, those being the Province of Nova Scotia and the Cape Breton Regional Municipality (CBRM). Since that time, a number of horizontal structures and processes have been put in place, such as:

• with government encouragement, the creation of a community-based advisory body, known as the Joint Action Group (JAG) which provides recommendations to government for programming; under JAG, several working groups and a secretariat have been established; the three levels of government also have minority representation on JAG and its working groups
• the development of an MOU between the three governments and JAG to set out the responsibilities of the respective parties
• the commitment by the three governments to a $62 million, cost-shared agreement to fund the first phase of the overall remediation program
• the establishment of a six-member Executive Committee, representing the three governments, to consider recommendations put forward by JAG and to handle decision-making re the program funding; several sub-committees have been set up under the Executive Committee

At the federal level, the lead department is Environment Canada. The other key department is Health Canada. Environment Canada holds the federal funds and issues the federal contracts. The two departments have an inter-departmental MOU to set out their responsibilities and working arrangements. The Regional Directors General (RDGs) of the two departments hold two of the six positions on the Executive Committee for the cost-shared agreement. ACOA manages one project for the federal government. Other departments become involved in individual issues, on an "as required" basis.

At the provincial level, the lead department is the Department of Transportation and Public Works (DTPW). Other key departments are the Department of Health (DOH) and the Department of Environment and Labour (DEL). In August, 2001, DTPW set up the Sydney Tar Ponds Agency (STPA) to coordinate the provincial involvement in the project, to manage the Province's contracts, and to handle some other matters for the Province.

A general view of interviewees for the case study is that the unique governance structures and processes for the Sydney Tar Ponds project are quite "cumbersome" but they work quite to very well for this horizontal file.

Lessons Learned:

Sydney Tar Ponds

As a horizontal initiative, the Sydney Tar Ponds project has given rise to a number of instructive lessons, including:

• the importance of champions; two federal Ministers (Environment and Health) were seen as having a critical role to play in the launch of this initiative, in securing federal funding and in enticing the other levels of government to participate; in addition, the two RDGs of those departments were also seen as being on-going champions for the project, ensuring that support was maintained for it
• shared vision; the various partners in the Sydney Tar Ponds project have, over time, developed a joint vision to guide and coordinate their efforts; such a joint vision can serve as a glue to hold horizontal initiatives together
• personal commitment and continuity of staff; at the regional and local levels, the federal staff were seen as having a strong, personal commitment to the project; this was also bolstered by the fact that most of these staff had been working on the project since its launch; such factors help ensure the success of horizontal initiatives
• effective horizontal structures; most interviewees felt that the community structures (i.e. JAG and its working groups) and the inter-governmental structures (i.e. the Executive Committee and sub-committees) have proven to be effective fora for managing this horizontal initiative; similarly, the representation on them has also been of a high calibre; these factors also contribute immensely to the success of horizontal initiatives
• the utility of Memoranda of Understanding (MOU); one MOU exists between the three governments and JAG; another MOU addresses the roles and relationships of the two federal departments; documents such as these provide critical clarity in respect of roles and accountabilities, both individual and joint
• the sense of an integrated, governmental "team"; the Province of Nova Scotia has achieved this by establishing a small agency to represent and coordinate its inter-departmental interests; several people have recommended that the federal government would be wise to do something similar
• difficulty in gaining support in Ottawa; several interviewees said that, as a "regional" initiative, federal departments involved in the Sydney Tar Ponds project often had difficulty in gaining support for the project in Ottawa