I am an honours graduate of…

I am an honours graduate of Earth and Environmental Sciences at McMaster University, and I strongly oppose Bill 5. The proposed bill is unacceptable in this time of climate crisis. It is estimated that anywhere from 15 to 150 species go extinct EVERY DAY. I can only imagine how that number might increase as we remove the protections for essential habitats and nesting spaces of vulnerable species populations.

Ontario is a very biologically diverse province, with many unique species that depend on our protection. This bill, yet again, prioritizes profit over the land we live on, and all species that live within it, including Ontarians. It will absolutely be detrimental to vital ecological systems that NEED protection.

These protections have been repeatedly scaled back, leaving many species vulnerable and bringing the loss of essential and sensitive land. Land such as the Oak Ridges Moraine, in which I have been a lifelong resident. Over the past several years I have watched as previously protected land has been destroyed and developed. The farmland my family grew up on has all been developed upon. There are better ways to help the housing crisis, and it’s not by creating another one for the species that inhabit our protected areas.