I want to live in an Ontario…

I want to live in an Ontario where it's recognized that if we want healthy, happy people, we need nature. Children and adults both need to be able to appreciate the wonderful biodiversity we have. For this to happen, protection of wildlife habitat has to be mandatory. The #1 reason for extinctions, which are happening across the world, is destruction of habitat. An increasing number of plants and animals in Ontario are now at risk of extinction, and with the changes we anticipate with global climate change, that number will only increase. This is absolutely not the time to weaken protections for them; on the contrary, the exemptions for logging, mining, hydroelectric and commercial interests that were put in place in 2013 should be struck. The proposals that MECP is proposing make no sense at all if we still care about the future of most wildlife in this province. Here are some of my concerns specifically:
• Using “ministerial discretion” to decide whether species or habitat protections should apply assumes that untrained elected officials are capable of knowing what species and habitat should be protected. This work needs to be done by scientists with specific training and should NEVER be politically based. We have a system in place that works; there is no need to "fix" it.
• Implementing a review process to second-guess the science-based listing decisions of the Committee on the Status of Species at Risk in Ontario (COSSARO)--absolute lunacy! COSSARO has qualified people and use science to make decisions. Why create another layer of bureaucracy?
• Simplifying requirements for industry permits or exemptions to undertake harmful activities- The fact that we knowingly allow industry to harm species or wildlife is hard enough to believe, but assuming that there are some activities that cannot be prevented, don't we need to know as much as possible about how these harms can be reduced? Shouldn't industry be held to the highest standards?
• Extending or removing legislated timelines for planning and reporting-this is worrying, since planning and reporting could easily be put off indefinitely as more and more of an endangered population is wiped out.
• Allowing proponents of harmful activities to simply pay into a conservation fund rather than meet current requirements to provide an on-the-ground overall benefit to species that they negatively impact. Paying doesn't bring back dead animals or restore habitat. You can't undo death with money, and it takes centuries, in most cases, to truly remediate habitat destruction. Our wildlife can't wait for that. Our wildlife is in jeopardy now.
The challenge for the MECP is to find a way to implement a strengthened Endangered Species Act in a better way; that means looking at the bureaucracy and fixing its efficiency. Please strengthen rather than gut the ESA.