This proposed Bill will…

This proposed Bill will remove many environmental protections which were first implemented to protect the health and safety of people in Ontario, and to ensure the long-term stability of our environment. It is a clear handout to the resource extraction industry which has a long track-record of severe environmental destruction and the poisoning of hundreds of thousands of Ontarians, and potentially permanent irreversible destruction of our ecosystem.

By bypassing environmental regulations, resource extraction will inevitably pollute our environment, whether intentionally to cut costs for waste processing and disposal, or unintentionally due to oversights in planning. This is especially true for the proposed development of the Ring of Fire, as mining leads to the production of vast quantities of waste contaminated with heavy metals and chemicals. We see this in the long-term destruction of areas around Sudbury's mines, such as the acidification of rain and soil, and heavy metal contamination. Additionally, this bill will once again open up parts of the Greenbelt for development, leading to the destruction of green spaces which are critical for agriculture and climate regulation (e.g., absorbing rain water which would otherwise cause flooding, and reducing air temperatures through evaporative cooling by plants).

Bypassing Indigenous consultation leaves these communities' without a voice, directly infringing on their rights. Additionally, developments without environmental assessments or consultations will very likely lead to the contamination of drinking water - a long-standing and on-going issue in First Nations' communities. We see this in our recent history, such as the Dryden pulp mill poisoning the drinking water and fisheries of Grassy Narrows First Nation for generations, and is still an ongoing issue.

In summary, this bill is short-sighted and will lead to further environmental destruction which Ontarians will pay for in the long-term in our personal health and wellbeing, monetarily in expensive cleanups of our environment, and socio-culturally by once again shutting down Indigenous voices. This bill will negatively affect Ontario for decades, or centuries, to come and should not be passed under any circumstances.