ERO # 025-0380 I strongly…

ERO # 025-0380

I strongly oppose Bill 5 and demand that it be stopped.

I have seen a decline in the natural environment around my homes in Ottawa within the 20+ years that I have been on this earth. As a child, the school playground was abundant in grasshoppers, monarch butterflies, caterpillars and much more. Have you noticed that these insects and many other species like snakes and frogs are very difficult to spot nowadays?

Habitat loss and fragmentation is the number one cause. We must isolate environmentally significant natural areas and preserve them. Keep industry and housing within the city boundary and do not expand the urban boundary. Repurpose land for industry and housing, do not claim and destroy new lands. We must limit population growth and move away from a capitalist economic model to a circular economy. Endless growth is not possible on a planet with finite resources and land. Nature is defenceless and will always loose against this model.

Governments should adopt a reciprocal relationship with nature where it seeks to protect it, not destroy it. How can a bird survive if every part of its habitat is looked at in isolation? How can a bird's habitat be limited to its nest? We must use common sense, science, and indigenous ways of knowing when it comes to our interactions with nature.

The registration-first approach is a major concern because it removes the only defence that nature has against developers. By allowing a project to begin before the environmental assessment, this means that a company could clearcut and infill swamp lands and be asked to leave the project only after the damage has been done if the land is deemed environmentally significant.