I have significant concerns…

I have significant concerns regarding changes to the Ontario Wetland Evaluation System.

The proposed changes remove wetland complexing, but do not change the value and thresholds that wetlands need in order to be considered significant. This will have devastating effects for the existing wetlands within southern Ontario. Since European Settlement, Ontario has seen a loss of over 80% of wetlands, and with one fallow swoop of poorly thought out changes could decimate Ontario’s existing wetlands.

The proposed changes will also no longer recognize species at risk in the evaluation process, a criterion which is currently a key factor in determining provincial significance; and remove provincial government oversight of the evaluation process, with no central agency assigned to coordinate or approve evaluations or ensure that information about PSW designation is publicly available.

All these proposed changes are occurring when the world is in a global climate crisis; wetlands help to reduce flooding, filter water and provide important provisional services. These changes will create a disaster all in the name of sprawl and increased profits in developer’s pockets. Who will be responsible for the increased flooding that will occur as a result of this legislation?

I urge you to reconsider these changes, and create a multi-stakeholder working group with professional ecologists from consulting firms and the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry to find ways to improve the OWES system; unfortunately the changes proposed will not be improvements and are a death sentence to wetlands in Ontario.