While I support the…

While I support the provincial government's actions to safeguard and protect Ontario's economy in the face of threats of U. S. tariffs, I am opposed to a number of sections included in Bill 5 “Protect Ontario by Unleashing Our Economy Act.” These will give too much power to the government and private companies to do or destroy whatever they want without oversight or legislation including the Planning Act, the Environmental Protection Act, Endangered Species Act, Occupational Health and Safety Act, Highway Traffic Act and the Trespass to Property Act. Bill 5 will eliminate legislative safeguards to protect Indigenous rights, the environment and heritage of Ontario. I am concerned that these sections, included in this bill, are an attempt to undermine long-established legislation in favour of hasty, short-sighted, and poorly-planned development. Good development should always balance all interests and goals without eliminating long-established legislation and public policy and meeting those goals requires sufficient time. Any new legislation that prioritizes haste and profit (for private interests – as with the current proposed MegaSpa at Ontario Place) and does not respect community rights and the environment, in all its multiple facets, should be resisted.

I am very concerned by the concept of “Special Economic Zones” which would over-ride or eliminate the applicability of all environmental legislation and the Ontario Heritage Act, including Heritage Conservation Districts, Part IV Designations and the Standards and Guidelines. We have already seen the damage done on the West Island of Ontario Place when the requirement for an Environmental Assessment was eliminated by the Ford government.

I reject the proposed amendments to Part VI of the Ontario Heritage Act as related to archaeological sites and allowing potential exemptions from that legislation. These amendments will remove protection for as yet undiscovered sites and landscapes of historic and cultural significance if they happen to be in areas which “in the opinion of the Lieutenant Governor in Council… could advance the following provincial priorities: transit, housing, health and long-term care, and other infrastructure or such other priorities as may be prescribed.” Without archaeological assessments we will not know if the priority areas contain Indigenous burial grounds or settlement areas.” First Nations in particular should be consulted about this proposed amendment.

I am concerned that exemptions from the Environmental Bill of Rights will remove the right of the people of Ontario to be advised of or to comment on any required permits for the rebuilding Ontario Place project whether on or off site. The public would no longer be informed of an application to relocate a CSO that would have resulted in dumping raw sewage in the West Channel at Ontario Place.

The repeal of Ontario’s Endangered Species Act and it replacement by far weaker regulations will allow development to destroy habitats and should not be enacted.

I am concerned that Ontario’s production of clean energy through solar and wind will be inhibited through the arbitrary banning of Chinese components. As action to reduce climate change is more urgent than resisting tariffs this seems to be a significantly backwards move on a par with the digging up of bike lanes in the City of Toronto.