Newfoundland Trash Problem: St. John's Hiring Security To Catch Polluters

CONCEPTION BAY SOUTH, N.L. - Newfoundland's vast beauty, soaring seaside cliffs and famed hiking trails have been showcased in award-winning ads that draw scores of tourists from around the world.

So it's especially jarring that some Newfoundlanders are trashing their woodlands to the extent that city councillors in St. John's are hiring a private security firm to catch polluters.

A 15-minute drive southwest of St. John's, Conception Bay South resident Carla Crotty takes a nature walk near Paddy's Pond that's littered with dumped furniture, heaps of household trash, propane tanks, abandoned barbecues, an air hockey table and a broken toilet. Three buckets tossed by the side of a tree-lined gravel road include one labelled acetone, the highly flammable active ingredient in paint thinner.

There's a stack of roof shingles nearby and wads of insulation tossed into a clearing of trees down the road.

St. John's mayor hoping for end of Harper reign

St. John's Mayor Dennis O'Keefe, who has worked on Tory campaigns since the Diefenbaker era, makes no bones that he is looking forward to a day when Stephen Harper is not prime minister.

O'Keefe, who has sharply criticized cuts in the current fiscal budget, said he will continue to speak out against Harper government decisions that he says have been draconian and are removing decision-making power from regional cities like his.

"The Harper government is pretty well immovable for the next four or five years," O'Keefe told CBC News.

"But there will be another time, there will be another government. And it won't be a Harper government — thank God — and we'll see some movement when it comes to treating this province fairly."

O'Keefe has been particularly concerned about a declining federal government presence in St. John's, especially of senior managers who have the authority to make decisions.

The new budget has eliminated, for instance, the position of the regional director for customs and border services, as well as three food-inspection labs. The Marine Rescue Sub-Centre's closure was announced last year. Most of these services will now be handled in other areas, predominantly Halifax.

Last Occupy Camp Holds On In St. John's

The final known Occupy camp in Canada remains open for business, as it were, in downtown St. John's, and the city has no plans to evict Occupy Newfoundland from its seaside perch.

"They're not bothering anybody," said St. John's Mayor Dennis O'Keefe, who told CBC News city council is fine with the small group of demonstrators who have been camping out at a small city park since Oct. 16.

"They're not a danger to themselves. They're not a danger to the public. They are there because they want to express an opinion. But we do not have an issue with them at this point in time."

On Tuesday, city workers and police evicted Occupy Fredericton from a public square, leaving Occupy Newfoundland as the only public protest camp left standing in Canada.

A string of them were set up across the country after Occupy Wall Street ignited the imagination of activists who have been speaking out against corporate control, the super-wealthy and economic injustice, among other issues.

Occupy Newfoundland is set up at Harbourside Park, a scenic park that sits between Water Street and the nearby harbour. Because there is limited pedestrian traffic in the area, the Occupy camp does not interfere with daily life in the city.