When dealing with spill of a pollutant, the Ontario Government works on a polluter pays principle. The owner of a pollutant or the person having control of a pollutant that is spilled and that causes or is likely to cause an adverse effect shall do everything necessary to remove the adverse effect and to restore the natural environment to pre-existing conditions.

The following sections taken from the Ontario Environmental Protection Act RSO 1990 prove this;

The following subsections are from Part 10 Spills:

91(1) Definitions

Owner of a pollutant - means the owner of the pollutant immediately before the first discharge of the pollutant;

Person having control of a pollutant - means the person and the person's employee or agent, if any, having the charge, management or control of the pollutant immediately before the first discharge of the pollutant;

Spill - a) Into the natural environment,
b) From or out of a structure, vehicle or other container, and
c) That is abnormal in quality and quantity in light of all the circumstances of the discharge;

Pollutant - means a contaminant other than heat, sound, vibration or radiation, and includes any substances from which a pollutant is derived;

92(1) Duty to Ministry and Others

Every person having control of a pollutant that is spilled and every person who spills or causes or permits a spill of a pollutant that causes or that is likely to cause an adverse effect shall forthwith notify the following persons of the spill, of the circumstances thereof, and of the action that the person has taken or intends to take with respect thereto,

a) The Ministry
b) The Municipality or Regional Municipality,
c) Where the person is not the person having control of the pollutant and knows or is able to ascertain readily the identity of the person having control of the pollutant.
92(2) When Duty Effective

The duty imposed by subsection (1) comes into force in respect of each the persons having control the pollutant and the person who spills or causes or permits the spill of the pollutant immediately when the person knows or is ought to know that the pollutant is spilled and is causing or is likely to cause an adverse effect;

93(1) Duty to Act

The owner of a pollutant or the persons having control of the pollutant that is spilled and that causes or that is likely to cause an adverse effect shall forthwith do everything practable to prevent, eliminate and ameliorate the adverse effects and restore the natural environment;

93(2) When Duty Effective

The duty imposed by subsection (1) comes into force when each the owner of the pollutant and the person having control of the pollutant immediately when the owner or person, as the case may be, knows or ought to know that the pollutant is spilled and is causing or is likely to cause an adverse effect;

99(2) Right To Compensation

Her Majesty in right of Ontario or in the right of Canada or any other person has the right to compensation;

100(10) Right of Insurer

An insurer as defined in the Insurance Act only acquires its subrogated right of recovery under any law, including sections 152 and 278 of the Insurance Act, or the provisions of any contract of insurance in respect of a person to whom a payment of compensation has been made under subsection (1) when Her Majesty in right of Ontario consents in writing to a settlement in accordance with which the right of recovery is released or to the bringing of an action to enforce the right of recovery.

SUMMARY

When a spill of a pollutant occurs, the owner of the pollutant or the person having control of the pollutant has an obligation to prevent, eliminate and ameliorate the adverse effects and restore the natural environment to pre-existing conditions or pristine conditions, upon knowledge that the spill has occurred.

However, this does not mean that the insurer is not entitled to compensation. When dealing with a clean up of a spill the steps should be as follows:
1) Notify the Ministry, Municipality and the owner of a pollutant;
2) Clean the site to pre-existing conditions or pristine conditions;
3) Acquire subrogated rights of recovery.

Compensation will have to be received via tort law, unless it can be handled out of court.

Enclosures

Attached are two separate court cases relating to different environmental situations. The first case is from the Ontario Court of Appeal. It involves Tridan Developments Ltd. vs. Shell Canada Products Ltd. It involves the remediation of a contaminated property and how much remediation is needed, to be considered, clean.
The second is from the Supreme Court of Canada and involves Imperial Oil Ltd. vs. Quebec Minister of Environment. This case discusses the polluter pays principle.

References

Government of Ontario (2001). Environmental Protection Act RSO 1990. Toronto, ON: Queens Printer for Ontario.

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