Backgrounder - Dr. David Balsillie, MSc., Ph.D

The Ontario government has appointed Dr. David Balsillie to head the Southwest Greater Toronto Area Air Quality Task Force. As a former assistant deputy minister at both the Ontario Ministries of the Environment and Natural Resources, Dr. Balsillie possesses a wealth of public sector expertise, including extensive work on the long-range transport of air pollution and acid precipitation.

At the Ministry of the Environment, Dr. Balsillie was responsible for overseeing the management of air and water resources, waste, and laboratory services. He directed the development and implementation of initiatives including the:

• removal of lead from gasoline
• Air Quality Index
• hazardous waste waybill and information system
• regulations to reduce the emissions of the substances that lead to acid precipitation.

While at the Ministry of Natural Resources, Dr. Balsillie guided the development and passage of the Ontario Crown Forest Sustainability Act which governs the management of Ontario's forests.

Dr. Balsillie chaired the Advisory Committee on Transboundary Science, an expert roundtable created in 2006 to advise the Minister of the Environment on reducing transboundary air pollution.

Dr. Balsillie is also a member of the Forestry Futures Trust Committee and is government relations advisor for Com Dev, a Canadian-based international remote sensing company.

From 1998 to 2004, Dr. Balsillie was an associate professor in the Faculty of Forestry at the University of Toronto and from 2007 to 2009; he was a part-time board member at the Ontario Energy Board.

Dr. Balsillie is an honourary member of the Ontario Professional Foresters' Association and a member of the Spina Bifida and Hydrocephalus Association of Ontario.