I strongly disagree with the…

I strongly disagree with the passing of this bill. It is an attack on the environmental rights of all Ontarians past and present that have fought for the protection of our unique biodiversity. I am in agreement that we are currently experiencing a housing crisis and that something needs to be done, but I would be willing to wager that this bill will not solve this issue. An increase in the construction of homes will do nothing to help struggling Ontarians if developers are only motivated to construct million dollar condos to turn the highest profit. Actual solutions such as rezoning to support low income apartments or requiring developers to limit the cost of housing is the real way out of this, but instead this government has reached for the easiest, quickest, and cheapest solution that will solve nothing. Ontario has an amazing variety of nature, much of which is unique in this country. By taking this away you are taking away the ability to enjoy nature, an ability which should be enshrined as a human right considering the benefit it has for everyone.

The endangered species act is a huge part of the laws which composed the wall of protection birthed from the era of environmental protest. This era led to such things as the protection of drinking water, clean air, and limited pollution. Things we now take for granted. But as with this bill we can see how easily they can be taken away. The endangered species act has single handedly been the reason we still have so many rare and iconic species surviving in our province, many of which would certainly have been extirpated or gone extinct without it. This act brought them back from the brink and has led to huge population recoveries, which have been sustained by the protection afforded by this act. The irony of having the iconic polar bear be the centerpiece of our currency while simultaneously letting it disappear forever is hard to miss.

I cannot speak for indigenous voices, as I am not a part of their culture; however, as someone who knows the history of this province and country I can say that this bill is very similar to other government actions in the past that have led to the destruction of indigenous culture. Building houses on land that has been colonized without any consultation or regard for history is already an outrageous insult, but this bill will allow building on land that was previously regarded as safe. This land, all of which has been used by indigenous groups since before colonization, will be destroyed by companies while indigenous groups get shut out of the picture by a government renting away their land again.

In conclusion, to the conservative party of Ontario I say this… you claim to want to create jobs by allowing industry to run free of time consuming regulations, yet you could also create jobs by hiring more environmental regulations to speed things up. Please stop blaming environmental regulations when you could just blame yourselves and actually fix the problem.