I am a consultant biologist…

I am a consultant biologist and resident of Ontario. I help guide my clients through the ESA processes. While I agree the legislation is time consuming and can be expensive (in the case of an overall benefit), I feel as though repealing the Act is not the way forward. There must be a way to maintain protection in Ontario for these most vulnerable species. Direct habitat loss must be accounted for and I really hope you plan to include compensation into this new act. I’ve seen the ESA work in action and provide direction to proponents and protection for species and their habitat. Movement habitat must be considered otherwise we risk further fragmenting habitat and isolation of species populations. There must be a middle ground here between these acts and I hope you find somewhere appropriate to speed up project development and yet protect species at the same time.