We live in an unprecedented…

We live in an unprecedented time of climate change - our world is and will continue to change for the worse because of the way that the Western world has put extraction and profit over the health and wellbeing of the planet. We are part of the planet - we evolved from the very earth on which we live and if we believe we can destroy the earth without also destroying ourselves, we are fools.

I implore us to not be fools. We have the opportunity to make radical changes in the way we live so that our grandchildren don't inherit a world-on-fire. This begins here, with decisions like this one. The Environmental Assessment Act should be automatically applied to ALL major public and private sector undertakings as before, not just a select few as is being proposed here. The reality is that relying on “thresholds” or “triggers” is not a good way to assess whether a project should require environmental assessment. The length and/or size of a project is not an adequate measure of the risk that it poses to the surrounding people and environment. Context matters - deeply. Better measures, if they are to be used, are location, design, operational plans, etc.

I also believe that ALL mining projects and major mine-related infrastructure (e.g. smelters, tailings ponds, etc.), especially open-pit mines, should be subject to comprehensive environmental assessment. These projects have enormous size, huge potential risks to the environment and to human health, massive liabilities associated with the long-term management and storage of mining waste, and more.

Furthermore, I am outraged that Bill 197 was passed with no opportunity for meaningful public input, and would like to remind the government of their obligations under the Environmental Bill of Rights. This is Trumpian, undemocratic behaviour, and as a Ontarian I am disappointed and angry. The public should be able to have a say in all environmentally-significant projects, whether public or private, and the only true way to tell whether a project is environmentally significant is to assess it comprehensively.

Finally, if any project is taking place on the traditional territory of an Indigenous nation, the proponent should be required to obtain free, prior, and informed consent from this community before moving forward. We have a terrible record of honouring the treaties of this land, and this process should be part of any good environmental assessment.

Processes that ensure environmental safety and Indigenous rights are not red tape. I want to live in a province that has robust, clear, predictable, participatory environmental assessment processes that take context and complexity into consideration!