The proposed changes are…

The proposed changes are unreasonable and empower the provincial government to bypass critical research and protections for species at risk and their habitat for the sake of greed. Environmental assessment reporting must be completed before a project begins construction in order to effectively avoid detrimental impacts. Voluntary approaches to restoration will ensure that many project proponents either do nothing or the bare minimum as there is no binding obligation and they are unlikely to inherently care about environmental issues that cost money or get in the way of construction. The provincial government should not have the discretion to remove species without appropriate research to validate the decision. Those decisions should be made by COSSARO to prevent bias. The proposed new definition of habitat is too narrow and does not include enough breadth to cover the environmental features necessary to encompass a species' life cycle. Species protections do not need to be "efficient and cost effective". The entire point is to conserve species and their habitats for their inherent value and for their contributions to preserving the environment for future generations of their and human benefit.