Dear Honourable…

Dear Honourable Representatives and People of Ontario,

Please fully withdraw Bill 5 - Protect Ontario by Unleashing Our Economy Act, 2025. Bill 5 would result in irreparable harm to the environment and the people of Ontario, both in the present and the future. Bill 5 must be stopped, and fully withdrawn for the following reasons.

Bill 5 would dismantle and undermine key legal protections that safeguard our environment, human health, and Indigenous People's rights. Specifically, Bill 5 would concentrate power to the government to create Special Economic Zones where provincial laws and municipal by-laws can be suspended - essentially creating lawless zones.

Bill 5 would exempt projects from environmental reviews, which would risk polluting water, and harming wildlife and human health. It would risk concentrating power and political corruption.

Bill 5 would weaken the Mining Act by modifying the purposes of the act and curtailing public consultation.

Bill 5 would weaken species protection. It would amend and replace the Endangered Species Act (ESA) with a narrower Species Conservation Act, which focuses on economic development, undermines habitat definitions, removes automatic listing of species at risk, and weakens government powers to protect species.

Bill 5 repeatedly fails to acknowledge Indigenous People's rights, including the Crown's Duty to Consult and the principle of free, prior, and informed consent outlined in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP).

Bill 5 authors fail to understand that habitat conservation is key to safeguarding species that are endangered, threatened, or of special concern. Bill 5 would narrow an endangered species' "habitat" to dwellings and its immediate surroundings, excluding areas critical to full life cycle needs. It would empower cabinet to ignore - without criteria - science-based proposals to list a species at risk under the Act. Non-listed species will receive no protection under the Act. It would further abolish obligations for the government to create recovery strategies and report on species recovery efforts.

Finally, Bill 5 promotes a false narrative that the economy and sound environmental protections are at odds with each other. Ontario's economy and jobs can be in harmony with conservation and the environment. A sustainable, socially responsible future is the investment the people of Ontario need today, and for tomorrow.

Please fully withdraw Bill 5.