Bill 5, the Protect Ontario…

Bill 5, the Protect Ontario by Unleashing our Economy Act, 2025, would do untold damage to ourselves and generations to come. it is a complex and sprawling omnibus bill with disturbing implications for endangered species, clean energy and Indigenous rights.

It introduces a new Special Economic Zones Act, 2025. This Act would exempt so-called “trusted proponents” from obeying all existing laws in a given geographic area. How does one become a “trusted proponent”? The Act is short on details, but would a few strategic donations to political campaign coffers do the trick?

Bill 5 would simply exempt certain projects, such as a proposed new mine in the “Ring of Fire” area, from environmental assessment. Exempting projects from assessment diminishes Indigenous and public voices and leads to bad decisions.

Among the worst features of Bill 5 is a proposed new Species Conservation Act, 2025 that would repeal Ontario’s existing Endangered Species Act, 2007. Canada, along with the rest of the world, is facing an extinction crisis. Animals like the Eastern Wolf, Woodland Caribou and Rusty-patched Bumble Bee; and plants like the Black Ash, Butternut, and Ginseng; are on the verge of disappearing altogether.
Once gone, they will never return.

Scientists agree that habitat destruction is the main driver of biodiversity loss. The current Endangered Species Act includes habitat protection provisions for threatened and endangered species. But to “unleash” development, Bill 5 would remove these protections, substituting absurd definitions of plant and animal habitat.

For plants, “habitat” would be “the critical root zone surrounding a member of the species”. Please note that there is no such thing in ecology as a “critical” root zone – this is just a made-up term. For animals, habitat would be “the area immediately around a dwelling place” such as a den or nest.

Try to imagine what this might look like in practice. What would happen if the forest surrounding an Eastern Wolf den, a single Black Ash tree, or a single American Ginseng plant was removed? Would they survive, baked by direct sunlight, surrounded by who knows what (suburban housing, mine, conifer plantation)?

Not a chance.

And what about fish and other aquatic species that make up a large proportion of the list of species at risk? What is their habitat? Would a developer be able to destroy all but a single gravel spawning bed and turn the rest of a creek into a drainage ditch?

Hard-working, dedicated biologists spend years studying and monitoring Ontario’s at-risk species. Under current legislation, they are tasked with preparing recovery plans to address the threats that are driving extinction. Shockingly, Bill 5 would simply eliminate recovery plans and their implementation.

Bill 5 is a misguided attempt to confine nature to the smallest possible area, allowing unchecked development everywhere else. This puts endangered species on a path to extinction, and humans as well. We depend on pollinators for our food. We depend on trees to maintain healthy water cycles. We depend on predators to keep down the carriers of tick populations that spread Lyme disease.

Please withdraw this Bill in its entirety.