As a citizen of Ontario, I…

As a citizen of Ontario, I am totally opposed to the provisions of Bill 5. This legislation not only poses a serious threat to Ontario's natural heritage, it is an obvious attempt to discard consideration for that heritage and for the democratic processes we value in order to push trough development in spite of the consequences for the natural world of Ontario.

As such, this legislation reveals the complete disregard by the Ford government, not only for the rights of citizens, but more disturbingly for our natural environment, the consequences of climate change and the ongoing loss of diversity in our province and across the world. Why is it that Premier Ford and his MPs can so easily dismiss the world that we live in when making decisions?

My experience has been that people across this province value the natural world that we are so privileged to inherit here in Ontario. Young people in my community of Orillia recently expressed their desire to protect endangered species from extinction or from further reduction in numbers. What gives the Premier and his government the right to further reduce the natural world and the species that live in it so that future generations will no longer know that world as it is right now (never mind how it was generations ago).

I urge the government to withdraw Bill 5 in its entirety. Please. Work with our indigenous people and wth environmentalists to ensure that development does not have to occur through the destruction of the natural world here in Ontario.

Protect nature. We are part of it. We injure ourselves in forgetting that truth.