Bill 5 proposes to terminate…

Bill 5 proposes to terminate comprehensive environmental assessments for two projects:
1) the proposed Eagle’s Nest mine as part of the proposed Ring of Fire in Northern Ontario and
2) the proposed Dresden Dump.
The environmental assessments for both projects were put into place to provide forward-looking understanding of environmental and socio-economic conditions and impacts of planned developments to government decision-makers, Indigenous communities as well as members of the public.

The unilateral termination of the environmental assessments for both the Eagle’s Nest mine and the Dresden landfill will rob the public, Indigenous communities and right-holders, the industry proponents as well as government officials of comprehensive scientific information for sound decision-making on these potentially harmful projects. This decision highlights the Ontario government’s clear intentions to prioritize reckless development absent of evidence and at potentially great cost to the public.

Note that Ontario Liberals Caucus has requested the Integrity Commissioner to launch an investigation into whether the Ford Government’s push for the cancellation of Environmental Assessments on the Dresden landfill was related to the landfill’s developers political donations to the PC party. During the October 2024 by-election, while campaigning for the PC candidate, Doug Ford promised he would kill the dump if that's what people wanted. Six months later, the promise was broken: Bill 5 cancels the promised Environmental Assessment. Ford said Ontario can't continue to rely on shipping waste to Michigan, Ohio and New York. Entirely coincidentally, this came after the landfill owners gave hefty donations to the PC Party.