An Ontario that disregards…

An Ontario that disregards the value of biodiversity in favour of economic gain is not an Ontario that protects its citizens and their wellbeing. These changes will only make it easier for developers to dismantle the natural systems that protect us from floods, heatwaves, agricultural/pollinator decline, air/water pollution, invasive species, mosquitoes and mosquito-borne illness, etc. The Ontario government needs to focus on better using its current land footprint instead of brute-forcing all of its housing problems by destroying the spaces it promised to protect. This is yet another step towards a future where decisions made for the public are based on finance instead of science. The original Endangered Species Act 2007 was created for a good reason, and yet Ontario's species-at-risk protections were already substantially reduced by the "More Homes, More Choice Act" in 2019, as described by Gordon et al. (2024) among others. We, as proud Ontarians, should not accept further revocation of the ecological protections we were promised. When will enough be enough?