I do not support this…

I do not support this proposal as written. In particular the following changes concern me :

- Expanding the determine an at risk species by looking at it’s status outside Ontario. This does not appear to me to be a reasonable way to protect our ecosystems inside Ontario and could result in us losing species in our province and upsetting the balance that depends on it here.
- Allowing non-scientist aka community members to determine what species are at risk. This could lead to biased and unreasoned choices as to what species truly need protection.
- I see no reasonable reason why the Minister should be given the ability to suspend protections for *three* years at what amounts to their discretion. This seems rife with danger from lobby groups and other parties who may have interests at stake. A properly classified at risk species could go extinct in this period, and although there is a provision for this, it is unclear how it would be reliably determined in advance that a species could survive the waiting period.
- Allowing developers to essentially buy out the need to adhere to protections for at risk species is problematic at best. Even assuming the money would actually be put into a fund and used for general programs for protection, which is very vague, it is unclear how this would be applied to ‘offset’ the damages ‘purchased’ by the developers