Is this a joke? Serious…

Is this a joke? Serious question.

MECP posts this ground shaking proposal on the Thursday before the Easter long weekend with a 30 day commenting period. I only assume that this is because you really don't want to hear from anyone on this proposal. And then governments wonder why the public has lost trust in its agencies...go figure.

The proposal was based on what? Certainly not through careful consideration and dialogue with stakeholders, businesses and agencies that it effects. If government was serious about making legislative and regulatory reforms to its Endangered Species program it would've initiated a pre-consultation process to engage with stakeholders, businesses, Indigenous communities, etc who regularly interact with this piece of legislation to develop a proposal that then could be consulted on more broadly. The proposal was dreamt up behind closed doors without such input, and it really shows. There are opportunities to improve and streamline some elements, but they were clearly missed in the interest of ramming this through as quickly as possible. It's a sad day for this program.

I do not support this proposal, and will be supporting any challenges related to it (oh you best expect those are coming). It's unfortunate because I am supportive of some reform to the program, but MECP and this government has botched it so badly that I am completely opposed.