As an ecological landscape…

As an ecological landscape designer and environmental columnist, I find Bill 5—Protect Ontario by Unleashing our Economy Act—to be a dangerously misleading title for what is, in reality, an assault on biodiversity and the foundational protections that keep ecosystems intact.

This proposed Species Conservation Act is not a modernization—it's a rollback. Stripping the definition of habitat down to a mere "den or nest" completely ignores the interconnected web of life that species depend on to survive—feeding grounds, migration routes, seasonal resting areas. These are not luxuries; they are essentials.

This is not red tape—it is a life support system.

The bill's so-called “efficiency” is code for deregulation in favour of unchecked development. It signals to corporations that they can bulldoze through our wetlands, forests, and vital green corridors with government blessing and little resistance. The elimination of the Species at Risk Stewardship Program is especially cruel—cutting off the very initiatives that engage citizens, researchers, and conservationists in protecting what little biodiversity we have left.

Ontario is already a hotspot for species decline. We are in the midst of a biodiversity crisis, and yet this bill proposes we gut our most effective tools for protection—in the name of short-term profit.

We must stand up and say clearly: You cannot build a future by bulldozing the natural world that sustains it.

Let’s not be silent while the last protections for Ontario’s wildlife are erased behind closed doors.