As an Ontario resident, I…

As an Ontario resident, I stand strongly against this new legislation. Accelerating development at the cost of environmental regulation is not only unwise, it is unjust. Environmental assessment exists not as a means of bureaucratic slowdown, but as a necessary procedure to ensure that we build prosperity in a way that is sustainable, in a way that doesn't hurt our communities or economies down the line. This is because environmental harm isn't a process that occurs outside of humans and human societies––it increases our instability and our vulnerability and therefore, undoubtedly, our economic burden. In short, fast-tracked projects carry a much larger risk of backfiring or amplifying harm down the line, which makes Canadians more vulnerable and only increases economic costs.

Importantly, accelerating these projects also shows little sign of enhancing economic prosperity in the short-term. In particular, new projects in the Ring of Fire would require huge amounts of infrastructure development to even begin functioning, including transit routes and highways. That extends the timeline for when these "fast-tracked" projects might begin earning revenue to over a decade minimum. If this accelerated development is primarily to economically strengthen us against Donald Trump, as Premier Doug Ford claims, how might this new legislation actually do so? By the time these projects come into play, the U.S. and our relationship to it may be totally shifted once more. My main point here is that environmental assessment isn't the only barrier to project development––actual project construction, particularly in more remote areas, arguably takes longer than preliminary assessments for construction. In this way, getting rid of critical environmental assessment does little to actually increase how quickly development projects start earning revenue. All they do is increase our risk of economic setbacks, harm, and vulnerability in the long-term.

Finally, this legislation would be able to sidestep consent from Indigenous communities with claim to the land for any projects within designated "Special Economic Zones." This violates Canada's adoption of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act (UNDRIP), which includes the principle of Free, Prior, and Informed Consent (FPIC). It is also undeniably unjust, and further injures a relationship with Indigenous peoples that we have struggled to repair.

Ultimately, this new legislation amplifies the risk of ecological harm, is unjust in its overlooking of critical environmental assessment and Indigenous consent, and shows limited potential of actually economically strengthening Ontario against the U.S. within the next 3.5 years of Donald Trump's presidential term. As an Ontarian, I stand against Bill 5 and the Special Economic Zones Act.