025-0380 This proposed new…

025-0380
This proposed new legislation repeals Ontario’s Endangered Species Act – dismantling decades of meaningful protections for endangered, threatened and special concern species and their habitat.
While new legislation, the Species Conservation Act, is being presented as a replacement, it would not provide meaningful protection. The vast and sweeping proposed changes will move Ontario away from a science-based approach to protecting species at risk to one that relies on industry and developers’ voluntary and discretionary approaches.
I am opposed to removal of the word ‘endangered.’
I am opposed to the new definition of the word ‘habitat’ as referring to a den, a nest, or space used for hibernation. Habitat should also include areas used for feeding and for migration.
I am opposed to the language ‘one or more member of a species’, which means for example that all butternut trees could be removed as long as one was left. What happens when that one remaining tree dies? Scientists know now that trees thrive in groups.
I am opposed to recovery strategies no longer mandated and being done away with.
I am opposed to review and monitoring no longer required.
Why repeal the entire Endangered Species Act and apply sweeping changes across the province?
This Bill 5 is undemocratic. It is a disguise. Packaged as part of a growth strategy, this Bill dismantles decades of species and environmental protections. This Bill isn’t about sustainability. It’s about access — access to land, to profit and to unchecked power.
If Bill 5 was truly meant to serve Ontarians, it wouldn’t be pushed through right after an election, and announced on the eve of Easter weekend. It wouldn’t be buried while attention is elsewhere. It wouldn’t be fast-tracked to bypass public input, it would invite it.
This proposed legislation is extreme. It is a gift to developers who do not want to have to consider endangered or at-risk species.
And it is undemocratic. As an Ontarian, I have a right to live in a democracy. It is shocking to me how quickly these protections can be revoked, and how permanent this can be into the future. I have a right to live in a province where endangered and species at risk are protected.