Giving politicians the power…

Giving politicians the power to choose which species will be protected is absurd!
These laws were put into place in the 70's and are there to protect our planetary health. Bill 5 makes a mockery of 50+ years of protections.

These protections have been eroded over the years and as the Auditor Generals report in 2020-21 pointed out, it already has many shortcomings and taking away the remaining safeguards would surely see a rapid decline in SARS and other species.
The AG report found:
1. Weak enforcement already and does not conduct inspections to ensure compliance.
2. 96% of development approvals in 2020 harm SAR's and their habitats and cumulative impacts are not assessed.
3. Species at Risk funding programs are decreasing while SARS are steadily increasing.
4. 10 out of 15 members on the Ministry's Advisory Committee work for industry and companies, of those 10, 5 are lobbyists. That only leaves 5 from the scientific and conservation community.
5. Only 25% of recommended actions to help SAR's have been undertaken

Bill 5 would mark the end of provincial protections to ensure development surpasses environmental constraints, would put an end to archeological assessments, curtailing indigenous involvement and create Special Economic Zones allowing developers to ignore laws

We should be doing the complete opposite of Bill 5 and strengthening our protections. We can not undo the damage created now in the future. Bill 23 and Bill 185 have already cut through the security the Endangered Species Act provided and moving forward with Bill 5 would take away our wetlands, watersheds, SARS, habitats, indigenous involvement and give the powers to those who care little of our environment.

Laws, protection, public input is what keeps politicians accountable. Allowing the provincial government to continue with these bills to try and secure a self policed status to do as they wish and continue with the removal of all their 'obstacles' (laws/protections) will not bode well for any of us down the road. Just say NO!