Should taxpayers be funding known polluters?

A mere one hundred days after receiving $17.3 million in corporate welfare dollars for facility upgrades, AV Cell Inc. of Atholville was charged in Campbellton Provincial Court with two offences under the Clean Air Act:

The Department of Environment alleges that on July 16, 2007, AV Cell Inc. of Atholville, caused or permitted the release into the air of a contaminant or class of contaminant causing damage to properties. The company is further charged that on the same date, it caused or permitted the release into the air of a contaminant or class of contaminant resulting in substantial loss of the normal enjoyment of the use of any property.

Not only am I against business subsidies in practice (as many of you may already know), I get even more frustrated when corporate welfare loans are given to declining industries that allegedly pollute. There's absolutely no reason why taxpayers should be on the hook for a facility that has been charged with being harmful to the environment. Let's hope the government puts the interest of taxpayers first and recoups this loan from AV Cell Inc., in its entirety, as a warning. Remember, the Graham government should be just as much a steward of the environment as they are of the public purse.