I am commenting on the…

I am commenting on the proposed amendments to the Rebuilding Ontario Place Act, 2023.

I am opposed to Schedule 8 of the Protect Ontario by Unleashing our Economy Act, 2025, exempting every project tied to the Ontario Place redevelopment (and any enterprise or activity that furthers the Ontario Place Redevelopment Project that is not at the Ontario Place site) from Part II of the Environmental Bill of Rights, 1993.
Part II of the Environmental Bill of Rights specifically outlines “minimum levels of public participation that must be met before the Government of Ontario makes decisions on certain kinds of environmentally significant proposals for policies, Acts, regulations and instruments.” Schedule 8 will completely eliminate public participation, as well as eliminating informing the public about environmentally significant activities specifically with regard to Ontario Place.

This proposal is not in the act of being transparent, trustworthy, accountable or responsible, which are qualities a good, democratic government should uphold. I would rather see the government talk to concerned citizens, as consultation has not been done for this project in a long time and I suspect it was not meaningful given the low number of people involved. I would like to see the government respond to the auditor governor general's report that outlines issues with this project instead of changing legislation to push it forward.

This proposed amendment is to benefit private sector initiatives, and it is not in the public interest nor the interest of our environment, which sustains us all and provides numerous socio-economic and other benefits. Protecting the environment actually saves more money than destroying it. I am calling on the Government of Ontario to remove Schedule 8 of the new Protect Ontario by Unleashing Our Economy Act, 2025.