This bill is unethical and…

This bill is unethical and puts many species and protected areas at risk. While I understand that zoning permits and submitting applications are time consuming, the purpose is to ensure that proper precautions are taken to protect our land. If land developers are allowed to proceed post registration before any verifications are performed, this means that many habitats are at risk of being disturbed or destroyed before any considerations or evaluations can be performed. If the application is submitted in bad faith or ignorance because proper surveying is not done, we risk many habitats and species. Just like when hydro or telephone companies require that you have the area surveyed before you dig to make sure you don’t damage electrical or gas lines, we need to make sure everything is performed properly BEFORE the work can start.

Removing the “duplications” for permits on non-federal land puts more species at risk because of a lack of checks and balances. Removing the advisory committee means that oversight from non-governing bodies and specialists is removed and therefore scientific or specialist guidance is lacking when making decisions.

Upgrading IT application systems may make things faster but it costs extra money and removes the human oversight. Just because more applications can come through, it doesn’t improve the quality of the application and these could be sitting in a queue for too long and putting the land at risk.

This bill is shameful and I don’t believe that economic growth should outweigh protecting nature. We can still grow without risking our environment or species and causing harm to our land. We are Canadians, not Americans and we need to make sure our country stays beautiful and diverse. Selling ourselves out to large corporations that are complaining about money and time “wasted” is not the answer. We should not and cannot put this bill through.