Having researched and…

Having researched and reviewed the proposed Bill 5, I find myself in opposition to it and do not believe it should be passed into law, for reasons I explain below

Under the proposed legislation as detailed within Bill 5, being meant to replace some of Ontario’s existing conservation legislation by allowing further deregulated and faster development, the definition of habitat is explicitly altered to only include the area in and around dwelling spaces for animals and critical root zones for vegetation (Legislative Assembly of Ontario, 2025). This perspective is extremely limiting, underestimating the sensitivity of many species to not only their “dwelling spaces”, but also areas that they may only utilize for other critical needs (feeding, shelter, etc.) (Cole et al., 2023; Singh, 2025). Furthermore, by reducing restrictions on development, which thus accelerate the loss of ideal habitat, habitat fragmentation, and breaking of habitat connectivity, forces species into sub-par conditions that prevent them from seeking out better survival opportunities (which is what guarantees the species survival) by isolating individuals and communities that could typically migrate/roam over broad distances (Cole et al., 2023). Considering Ontario’s current state of environmental degradation/land-cover conversion, further disturbance to sensitive systems as enabled by the legislation detailed in Bill 5 may be in such excess that some vulnerable species will be extirpated/made extinct, with possibly no amount of mandated offender restoration/compensation being able to repair the damage done (Legislative Assembly of Ontario, 2025; Singh, 2025). Instead, current legislation has developed in a way that accommodates these broader, more scientific definitions in an attempt to permit species population maintenance or growth, its removal elimination creating gaps that prevent the new Species Conservation Act, 2025 from being as effective, these gaps being the next largest issue with Bill 5 (Legislative Assembly of Ontario, 2025; Singh, 2025).
As established, reducing protections for vulnerable species (many of which are struggling to maintain populations already) has potential to wreak havoc on species populations, the disturbances/loss of such ecosystem components having broader impact on the ecosystem; by altering nature’s ability to perform its necessary processes as well as offering ecologically & economically important ecosystem services, the rights of individual citizens of Ontario to their health and to this provinces resources being undermined (Bowman, 2025; Singh, 2025). Generally, the method to avoid such impacts is the use of ecological assessment and permitting prior to development, another underappreciated mechanism disregarded by the proposed legislation of Bill 5 by instead allowing individuals and businesses to begin work without considering potential risks (Legislative Assembly of Ontario, 2025). The reason these tools/mechanisms exist is to stop exactly what is now being encouraged, to shortcut projects that could have unforeseen negative consequences- of note, this shift in approach towards “conservation” mirroring that of the federal United States of America’s wherein capital gain is prioritized over sustainability (Kendrick, 2021; Legislative Assembly of Ontario, 2025). By creating opportunity to bypass what is effective legislation (through the absence of assessment/permitting or the creation of special economic zones), very little legislation could or would be enforced as the mechanisms of such enforcement would no longer have the grounds or ability to do so (Kendrick, 2021; Legislative Assembly of Ontario, 2025; Singh, 2025). It is for these reasons, the proposed self-regulated registration system, the special economic zones, and the likely ineffective enforcement of environmental policies should not be allowed to come to pass, the loosening of control of Ontario’s natural resources and ecosystems likely leading to further uninformed management and unwieldy issues.

 
SOURCES
Bill 5, Protect Ontario by Unleashing our Economy Act. (2025). 1st Reading, April 17th, 2025, 44th Parliament of Ontario, 1st session. Retrieved from the Legislative Assembly of Ontario website: https://www.ola.org/en/legislative-business/bills/parliament-44/session…
Bowman, L. (2025, April 30th). Demystifying Bill 5: How Doug Ford’s Omnibus Bill guts environmental protections. Ecojustice. https://ecojustice.ca/news/demystifying-bill-5-how-doug-fords-omnibus-b…
Cole, J. R., Koen, E. L., Pedersen, E. J., Gallo, J. A., Kross, A., & Jaeger, J. A. G. (2023). Impacts of anthropogenic land transformation on species-specific habitat amount, fragmentation, and connectivity in the Adirondack-to-Laurentians (A2L) transboundary wildlife linkage between 2000 and 2015: Implications for conservation and ecological restoration. Landscape Ecology, 38(10), 2591–2621. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10980-023-01727-6
Kendrick, I. (2021). CRITICAL HABITAT DESIGNATIONS UNDER THE ENDANGERED SPECIES ACT IN AN ERA OF CLIMATE CRISIS. Columbia Law Review, 121(1), 81–118. https://proxy.lib.uwaterloo.ca/login?url=https://www.proquest.com/schol…
Singh, I. (2025, April 30th). Ontario is scaling back species at risk protections, worrying advocates and inviting federal intervention. CBC News. https://www.cbc.ca/news/science/ontario-species-at-risk-changes-1.75222…