The Ford government is…

The Ford government is proposing a damaging policy right now (Bill 5) that would repeal the Endangered Species Act and replace it with a watered down act that wouldn't be sufficient to protect habitat or species at risk. The proposed policy change will allow developers to proceed with any type of demolition or destruction known to be harmful to important habitat or species at risk without going through a permitting process or requiring any alterations or mitigation efforts. One example is that they want to narrow the definition of 'habitat,' such that they would need to protect species at risk only in their 'dwelling place' - so protecting a bird's physical nest, but not any of the necessary habitat they might need for eating, migration, raising young, etc. There are so many issues with Bill 5 (ignoring Indigenous consultation, scrapping species recovery strategies, creating special economic zones where a minister can override provincial or municipal laws, etc). I am very much against this bill -- just another example of this government's bull-in-a-china-shop lack of respect for the environment and our future.