I have been reading a number…

I have been reading a number of articles in the press recently regarding your government's proposed changes to the endangered species act. I don't like what I am reading. In fact I am appalled by it. Its hard to know where to start.
- Under the new law land owners, developers and municipalities will be given the option to buy a permit to destroy habitat. This is not a theoretical risk to me. Near where I live, on the shores of Lake Huron, the town of Sauble Beach is currently prevented from destroying the habitat of an endangered species called the piping plover. The existing endangered species act prevents the town from doing this. Under the new law the town can simply pay a fee and then destroy this bird's habitat (its only habitat in Ontario).
- Under the new law a species that is endangered in Ontario can be removed from the endangered species list if it is not endangered in some areas outside of Ontario. That would be a horrible change. It reduces Ontario's bio diversity and robs Ontarian's of some of our natural heritage.
- Under the new law, the committee that decides which species should be on the list, will be filled with non scientific experts in the area of species at risk determination. I can easily imagine a committee soon to be filled with developers pairing the list in order to make way for roads, housing developments, mines, logging etc etc. No thank you.

Arguments to change the law based on "open for business" , "good for jobs', " improved efficiencies", "reduction of red tape" are simply a price that is too high to pay. Your government is moving in the wrong direction. The recent UN report that projects the extinction of 1 million species globally in next few decades proves this. For the sake of your grandchildren and mine please abandon this law and instead write a new law that really does strengthen the protections of Ontario's species at risk.