One main concern for the…

One main concern for the passing of Bill 212 is, fundamentally, it's exemption of certain projects from the Environmental Assessment Act, which has the following purpose: "The betterment of the people of the whole or any part of Ontario by providing for the protection, conservation and wise management in Ontario of the environment." Not only does the Environmental Assessment Act mandate that assessments include information about expected impacts to the affected environment, potential impacts, and the actions necessary to mitigate damage, which allows for a critical consideration of potential habitat destruction for native species and species at risk, it also mandates that information in Environmental Assessments be made available to the public for review. Bill 212 implies that the public which may be directly or indirectly affected by these projects may not be notified or fully informed of the impacts of these projects, and removes the voice of concerned Ontarians from the planning process. This removes the ability of the public to share their concerns for a project, and their opinions on whether or not the advantages of the completion of these projects outweigh the disadvantages, thus taking the ability of Ontarians to determine whether or not we feel these projects are necessary, or effective to remedy highway infrastructure challenges. This could also severely impact certain species at risk, including Jefferson's Salamanders and various species of turtles that rely on the wetlands that will be affected and divided by these projects.

In addition, the important role of wetlands in natural flood control could be severely impacted by these projects. The Reducing Gridlock, Saving You Time, and Building Highways Faster Act lists it's purpose as "to expedite the construction of priority highway projects by streamlining and supplementing existing processes in order to alleviate delays to the timely completion of such highway projects." While on a surface level this may seem to be a matter of efficiency, one could wonder how it may affect the carrying out of important processes that ensure longevity of the infrastructure and proper construction. Will this leave room for cutting corners on assessments for the purpose of building a highway faster? Current policies and assessments allow for critical consideration and investigation of potential factors that may impact the efficacy of the proposed infrastructure. Drawing on incidents of flooding on the Don Valley Parkway since it's construction, it seems counter productive to have a policy in place that, at it's core, cuts corners in favour of faster construction, considering that faster construction will not make a difference if the construction is flawed in a way that makes these highways unusable or ineffective at remedying the traffic issue, such is the case with the Don Valley Parkway after instances of heavy rainfall.

I urge those deliberating on this Bill to sincerely and serious consider the negative environmental impact that these acts could have on the areas affected by the currently proposed projects, but also how it could affect areas that could be the site of similar projects in the future.