A 21,000-litre fuel spill at Canadian Forces Station Alert went unreported until an NDP access to information request forced its disclosure.
Dennis Bevington, MP for the Western Arctic, wants to know why.
On Tuesday, Bevington pushed Minister of National Defence Gordon O’Connor to explain why the spill went unreported and even demanded his apology for the misstep.
“Why did the government fail to inform northern Canadians?” said Bevington, during Question Period.
“Why did it take the NDP to have this information see the light of day?
“The government promised to be open, transparent and accountable. This incident should have been reported to the hard-working people of the North. We are not second-class citizens,” he said.
“The minister should apologize.”
All necessary actions were taken to clean up the spill at Alert, said O’Connor,
But he refused to offer an apology for not reporting the spill.
“I should inform the member that (the Department of National Defence) is spending about $60 million each year cleaning up residue that was left in the North for the last 30 to 40 years,” he said.
“We will continue to do that until all the areas are cleaned up.” (TQ)