Thorough and comprehensive…

Comment

Thorough and comprehensive reviews of mine permit applications are necessary in order to uphold charter rights, such as the Citizens' Right to Life, Liberty and Security, and the Aboriginal and Treaty Rights of Indigenous Peoples in Canada. Waiving such reviews and permit applications is, therefore, unconstitutional.
For the same reasons, it is unconstitutional to:
-exempt from environmental reviews and assessments projects such as mines, dams, landfills, housing developments, etc. that have the potential to affect wildlife and their habitat, carbon sinks, water sources and human health.
-ask the public to trust those who have vested interests in particular economic projects and lack the necessary scientific expertise to make decisions that may or may not destroy water sources, wildlife and habitat, carbon sinks and human health.
-curtail public consultation related to such projects.
-waive the need for government accountability to the public with regard to such projects.
-waive the Crown’s Duty to Consult and attain free, prior and informed consent from First Nations, Metis and Inuit peoples, as outlined in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP).
-dismantle or undermine key legal protections that safeguard our environment, human health, and Indigenous rights.
The wording, "protect Ontario's economy" is a sardonic jab at those who advocate for the protection of the environment, and implies that economic sustainability is incompatible with environmental sustainability. In fact, the assumption that the economy can only be strengthened at the expense of the environment underpins all of the proposed changes in Bill 5. We don't have to create an economy that decimates the environment. We can sustain the economy and the environment, but not without substantial and ongoing input from third-party, trained scientists and indigenous peoples. Failure to include these voices is deeply unconstitutional, and can only lead to one result: Extensive and irreparable damage to crucial carbon sinks, water sources, air quality, and our province's precious and irreplaceable natural heritage.