I sit on a Committee of…

I sit on a Committee of Adjustment up north. In most cases, people are developing in areas where there are endangered species. We could require those who receive COA approval to make it conditional upon an environmental study being done. However, The applicant must pay for it.
We typically don’t do this because obviously the environmental consulting company hired is going to pay attention to the party who is paying their bill. While this makes it difficult to protect endangered species, it is far more problematic when the government simply sends signals and takes actions to show it doesn’t care. The rules related to development in areas of endangered species actually need to be tightened and not relaxed. Knowing what we know about environmental issues today and the perils of climate change and its implications for all plant and wildlife species in the province, it is hard to fathom a government wanting to relax rules and only because they will curry favours of the business community. We should be setting the bar high. It would be embarrassing to think that after years or hard work, study and lobbying efforts on the part of many organizations to put the environmental protection on the government agenda, that this could be so quickly unravelled. Respect for all - including the achievements of past individuals, organizations and governments should be first and foremost - when a government begins its term. Respect for the environment and the efforts of scientists who determined what would constitute the comprehensive list of endangered species should also be a primary goal because these standards are so easily abandoned by shortsightedness and greed. Don’t be the government that appeases those with other interests.
A great many of the endangered species live near important watersheds. The majority of the province’s wetlands and watersheds are understudied and therefore not properly protected. Please don’t make this worse! It’s hard to imagine.