There has been a steady…

There has been a steady increase over the passed 20 years in the number of species on the Ontario Endangered Species List. The proposed Act fails to adequately protect or improve the situation for species at risk. The broader definition of habitat used in the ESA and the inclusion of recovery strategies should be restored.
Habitat loss is a major factor. Land is habitat. Land-use Planning authorties of the MOECP can be used to create more conserved lands in Southern Ontario. This would provide great benifit to our growing urban populations, and protect migration and broader habitat considerations not covered in the proposed legislation. The creation of a publicly accessible critical habitat data set, building on the individual data sets currently under the individual Conservation Authorities would be useful.
The attachment of the legislation to the Ontario Enviromental Bill of Rights is a good idea.