I do not support your…

I do not support your changes to the Ontario Endangered Species Act.

No municipality or developer should be able to “buy” their way out of following regulations that are put in place to protect our environment. Your suggested payment “in lieu of completing these required activities” further supports that the Conservative government is only concerned with selling off our province to the “highest bidders”.

It seems that if you have money in Ontario, you can do whatever you want, while we, the everyday taxpayer watches the province crumble.

The responsibility of government is to the protect ALL parts of the province, including the living things in our ecosystem. These organisms have no voice, you have the power to protect them. Be responsible and do the right thing.

You cannot run this province like a business. In business, profit is the bottom line, and the goal is to make as much money as possible. Your role is to protect, and nurture our province, its services, and our environment.

The biodiversity of our ecosystem is essential to its health, and sustainability. Since your government is in charge (for the next few years), your decisions should take care of it, not destroy it. The cost of losing this, is far greater than any amount of money you could ever collect.

You can’t “buy back” species once they become extinct. Beyond that, we are all part of the ecosystem, and will feel the effects of it when it is not healthy. We already are experiencing this with climate change, and the financial cost will continue to rise as the environment suffers.

Currently there is a biodiversity crisis in the world. You need to be part of the solution, not part of the problem.

- A concerned citizen of Ontario.