I strongly oppose the impact…

I strongly oppose the impact on the Endangered Species Act as proposed in Bill 5. These changes, as with other changes being proposed by Bill 5, are unacceptable. We did not elect you to dismantle laws and processes in place to protect the Ontario that we love and the natural environment we treasure.
There are numerous specific issues with this proposal. For example, the new definition of a habitat for wildlife does not include the wider territory it needs as a species. And having people register before inflicting irreversible damage is hardly sufficient to protect endangered species from that damage. How can the government effectively declare itself more qualified than scientists to add or remove species from the protected species list? The potential conflict of interest in such an approach is blindly obvious, with the proposals effectively giving the government the power to circumvent existing laws and approve its own projects without oversight, potentially creating irreparable damage. The bill provides the government with the tools to operate outside the laws that have been implemented to protect Ontario and its citizens from exploitation and overdevelopment. You are overstepping your mandate as elected officials.