I have concerns with the…

I have concerns with the following statement:

‘Under the proposed new approach, instead of waiting for the ministry to approve permits, most proponents will be able to begin an activity immediately after registering. Registered activities will be required to meet all associated requirements set out in new regulations.’

It is my feeling that the 'wait' for approved ministry permits has an important purpose. This 'wait' is the time and care that should be taken to thoroughly consider the potential impact of ‘an activity’. It makes no sense to let it begin before such an assessment is done. My thought is that it is better 'get it right' from the beginning …..especially for projects (aka ‘activities’) that will have impact on the environment……and let’s face it, all activity has an impact. How many home construction/renovation projects do people regret because careful consideration and planning was not done and homeowners have to call someone in to fix the mess. Mike Holmes is famous for fixing shoddy reno's for desperate, disillusioned homeowners. We do not need entire communities looking for a saviour after developers who've been 'unleashed' by this PC government. We are living with the impacts of the activities that have gone before us. The process of assessing the impact of projects such as housing developments or garbage dump expansions has evolved to where it is now, because in the beginning, concern for the environment and endangered species were not considered. That is how they became endangered, because our human hubris to believe our needs are more important than those 'beings' with whom we share this planet.

We do not need to speed up the process to ‘unleash our economy’ at the expense of the animals, plants with whom we share this land. When these are negatively impacted, we humans suffer as well and that impacts our economy.

My community of Chatham-Kent is already faced with the prospect of an expanded landfill in Dresden that may be 'fast tracked' thanks to Bill 5's proposal. Please refer to the link attached from Chatham-Kent resident about the Dresden Landfill expansion proposal and his hopes that MPP Steve Pinnsonealt 'would never accept the arbitrary removal of the requirement for an environmental assessment for this proposal.'

I am opposed to this Bill, for the reasons sited in the article attached from the Narwhal. The main point being that Ontario's existing Endangered Species Act was once the Gold Standard and the Ford Government have made cuts to it since taking power that have been harmful to endangered species sited int the article. It sites the impacts those 'minor cuts' made......what will Ontarions be left with in terms of biodiversity when it has been scrapped via Bill 5?