I do not agree with the…

I do not agree with the proposed changes. Giving the provincial government the ability to remove endangered species at their own discretion would be careless and unruly. Given Premier Ford’s propensity to open doors for developers, it would be unwise and ill-fitting to allow these types of decisions to be left to the government. Describing the current process as “complicated, taking too long to complete, and causing unnecessary delays” is misinformation and misses the entire point of the Act. In order to protect endangered species, there needs to be due process. A “registration first” process is absolutely not due process and opens doors for the destruction of endangered species environments to occur with no overhead or care. The Ministry should be reviewing and approving or denying all permits to ensure and enforce the protection of endangered species. How will it be confirmed that applicants meet these “associated requirements”? Are the requirements actually proper and purposeful to ensure the protection of endangered species? Or will these requirements be minimal and catered to promote development despite potential harm to species? Our green belt was already under attack by the Premier and this is clearly just another small step towards that same goal. Removing the concept of harassment and changing the definition of habitat is grossly unjust and misguided. Again, this is clearly being proposed to open up opportunities for developers with no care for the species the Act is trying to protect. If anything, the Act should have a more well-defined and expanded concept of harassment as endangered species are not protected well enough currently. The proposed removal of the harass concept and the proposed adjustment to the definition is extraordinarily limited and vague. It is being reframed to be biased towards developer goals. Then the proposed idea of “phasing out” the Species Conservation Action Agency, whose purpose is protection and recovery of designated species (for which there is an important reason they are designated - they require protection), and transferring their funds to the government to use towards species protection and conversation goals, is so clearly unethical. How do we, Ontario Citizens, truly know these funds will be used to actually protect endangered species? Why would we have any trust in that, when the government is actually proposing reductions in their protection? How do we trust the goals being worked towards, when they are being created by the current government who tried to attack the Greenbelt? The proposed shift from Ministry protection to “supporting volunteer initiatives” is a huge step back, as volunteer initiatives do not have the same power and ability to make decisions. In summary, this entire proposal is ludicrous, unethical and clearly biased towards the goals of developers. I did not vote for this government, nor were these changes outlined in the plans by the government. This is unacceptable.