Manitoba Premier Brian Pallister has pledged nearly $8 million for brownfield cleanup, but few other details are yet available. The funding was announced last month as part of a package of green initiatives aligned with Manitoba’s climate change strategy, and is expected to be further clarified in the 2020 provincial budget when it’s released next week.

“With this additional $150 million for new green initiatives, we are showing that our plan is better for the environment, better for the economy and better for our children and grandchildren,” Pallister said. “These additional investments will help us achieve our vision of making Manitoba Canada’s cleanest, greenest and most climate-resilient province.”

As outlined in the Manitoba government’s announcement, the allocation is “to clean up contaminated sites, like abandoned gas stations”. A substantially larger pot of funds in excess of $103 million is earmarked for “the cleanup of and monitoring of contaminated orphan and abandoned mine sites throughout the province”. Other promised funds include $50 million for wetland preservation and $3 million for lead mitigation.