I have lived all my life …

I have lived all my life (almost seven decades) in Ontario. For over 31 years my career was as a professional biologist in Ontario. I witnessed periods of environmental harm due to inadequate protection, followed by increased protection and monitoring, which has since been followed by less thorough monitoring and, as a result, protection. Bill 66 will allow much more serious systemic failure to protect environmental quality, supposedly due to a higher valuation on creating jobs.

It is obvious that in today's world, jobs are becoming increasingly temporary, whereas environmental degradation has a much higher degree of permanence. A healthy environment is a key component of fiscal capital in Ontario's economy. Allowing environmental degradation creates economic challenges, in that impaired environmental quality has less value, being less attractive to development due to increased costs (i.e., brownfields).

Bill 66 is plaqued by short-sightedness. Sacrificing environmental vigilance means sacrificing financial value of a healthy environment in favour of ephemeral jobs. Ontarians deserve better.