I am writing today to…

I am writing today to express my utmost opposition to all aspects of this proposal.

The proposed definition for what is considered "habitat" for species at risk is indefensible. To protect only the primary dwelling of a plant or animal while allowing all surrounding areas it depends upon to be degraded or destroyed is equivalent to killing it. In my mind, it demands the question: How long would you survive in your house if all grocery stores, water treatment plants, parks and shopping centers were bulldozed?

Further, I believe it is not the place of any political figure to pick and choose which species are convenient to protect and which ones are not. The process of identifying species for protection under species-at-risk legislation - Endangered Species Act or otherwise - should be informed solely by the best available knowledge of that species' status, including relative abundance, population trends, and primary threats.

To entirely undermine and abandon informed decision-making regarding the protection of our province's most vulnerable species while we are in the midst of a biodiversity crisis is to doom not only those species, but ourselves and all others. Of course, this is only one of many components of Bill 5 which would compound this crisis and threaten all our wellbeing. Without healthy ecosystems supporting thriving native biodiversity, we will have no food or clean water to support ourselves, let alone a thriving economy.

I hope that as a government meant to represent the people, you will take my feedback (and the feedback of thousands of others) seriously and abandon this proposal in its entirety. Rather, I hope you will step up to the plate to protect the species and ecosystems that sustain us (and that I, and the vast majority of Ontarians, love). I hope you will take meaningful action to advance the protection and recovery of species at risk, their habitats, and biodiversity at large in Ontario. And I hope you will do so in a way that respects the rights, interests and knowledge of Indigenous Peoples, the First Peoples of this land.

Thank you for your consideration.