Hello Ontario, I have looked…

Hello Ontario,
I have looked at your proposed changes to the Endangered Species act focusing on the initial points. Without going further into the proposal, it already seems to be going backwards. Conservation and protection of natural wild spaces and wild species is ultimately to protect the world many of us enjoy and need. It also ensures that the biodiversity works on and with life that nature requires but that we also require for food growth & production and for stable weather patterns so we can have food, housing, wellness, and to prevent natural disasters from increasing in severity which cost exorbitant amounts of money and risk insurance denials for average property owners.

By allowing “activity” of projects to go ahead before approval, this proposal sounds to be by and large, completely eliminating the need for checks, verifications, and approvals at all. Will you remove a highway once it is started when you realize that it was built on a “protected” Green Belt? Will a corporation build or housing project be stopped and reverted when they realize that the species endangered in that area are now almost gone and that the damage is done? Or when they discover that it was actual wetland and so should not have been built on, to preserve species but also to help water absorption? Prevention, conservation, and planning is also thinking multiple generations ahead, not only need and gain right now.

Rushing into this proposal at this time of history when the world is telling us the decisions we make are essential for survival and quality of life, is irresponsible. Learn from the past. Learn from other countries - what are they doing well or not. Learn from fellow provinces for what has worked or not. Ours is currently in a huge battle over a wetland that should be protected for numerous reasons and should not be built on but it is wanted by industry when other options are possible and better. Why? Because environmental laws were changed so they could be pushed aside and bypassed.

Growth means doing things better and learning from the past. It does not mean whiting over the needs of all for the “build now at all costs” mentality. That has been done and we are all still paying the consequences, and the consequences are increasing.

Signed, a concerned neighbour.