I strongly urge a “no” vote…

I strongly urge a “no” vote on Bill 5, which would repeal the Endangered Species Act, 2007 in favour of the Species Conservation Act 2025.
I am very concerned that if Bill 5 is passed, much of what has been gained and improved, since 2007, for both wildlife habitat and the natural habitat’s influence on human health, will be lost.

Listed below are my concerns with approving Bill 5.

It gives too much government control over listing species at risk while planning to disband the Species Conservation Action Agency and Species at Risk Program Advisory Committee, putting more power in fewer hands to decide the fate of our most vulnerable species;
it indirectly allows for extirpated, endangered or threatened species to be the harassed;
it reduces the definition of “habitat” to a level lower than that of a Grade 4 student’s understanding, providing fewer measures of protection for our most vulnerable plant and animal species;
it eliminates the required recovery strategies, which provide the necessary groundwork for protecting vulnerable species by mitigating the harm of development and habitat destruction;
Additionally,
permitting for activities that are harmful to species at risk would only be required in limited situations;
proponents who register an activity that may harm a species at risk would be able to proceed with the activity without waiting for the Ministry to review or approve the registration/activity;
the provincial government would no longer be required to develop recovery strategies and management plans, government response statements and review of progress from legislation.

I urge you, in the strongest terms possible, to reject the proposed interim changes to the Endangered Species Act, 2007 and a proposal for the Species Conservation Act, 2025. The new proposal will offer less protection than the previous Act. The government should be able to do much better in preserving our species at risk and the habitats they require. Not only do species at risk benefit from better protection but so does all human life. We need to be safeguarding biodiversity and ensuring that all life, including human, benefit from the ecosystem services that nature provides now and for future generations.