All wetlands provide…

All wetlands provide ecological services that immeasurable value and not easily replaceable by any other ecosystem or any proposed restoration. In addition to providing unique habitats for native flora and fauna, including the at risk species swamp rose mallow, Blanding's turtle, and king rail waterbird, wetlands provide water and waste filtration, manage flooding and erosion, and are effective carbon sinks, trapping excess carbon from the atmosphere. By developing over these ecosystems, even parts of the ecosystem, such ecological functioning could be less effective or even compromised, resulting in later investment by municipal or provincial governments to compensate for the lack of natural functions, such as investment in infrastructure to manage flooding, expensive upgrades to building, continues projects to accommodate for climate change, etc. The very existence of wetlands are helpful in achieving our targets for climate action due to their climate regulation capabilities.

This proposal continues perpetuates the unsustainable approach for land use planning that has resulted in the staggering loss of ecological land in recent decades, the consequences of which we are well aware of, the decrease in native flora and fauna, decrease in air and water quality affecting human health, rise in invasive species, negative impacts on agriculture, etc. "Streamlining" or quickening the process of consultation and evaluation does not allow the proper time and consideration needed to evaluation such sensitive and significant ecosystems.

As opposed to pursuing polies and regulations that would address the root of the housing crisis or encouraging sustainable building approaches, such as multi-family homes on already available land, this proposal is specifically intending to ensure that designations around wetlands can be reduced in order to build onto current lands that are protected due to the wetland significance status. These "duplicate" regulations are in place to ensure that the proper measures are taken so that lands that provide such significant ecological service and unique habitats are not disrupted before their true ecological contributions can be understood. Such regulations exists for a reason, to protect these lands for often unaccountable development that does little to accommodate for the destruction of the ecosystems post development. Importantly, proposed "restoration" projects post development often do little to compensate for the actual loss of a wetland because we cannot simply "recreate" ecological function that often take hundreds or even thousands of years to establish and wildlife cannot simply move to another habitat once theirs is lost.

Affordable housing can be pursued, but it should not come at the expense of ecosystems that we know are of great ecological significance. Furthermore, opposing proposals such as these can help us begin to move away from shot term planning and invest in long term solutions that accommodate for the economic, social, and ecological well being of our communities.