Please protect Ontario’s…

Please protect Ontario’s Endangered Species Act. Protect Wildlife. Our economy will benefit by clear regulations, swift responses and improved communications, not by delays and exemptions in applying the Ontario Endangered Species Act, which is a critical backstop against extinction.
Protecting endangered species requires looking at the entire landscape and taking actions that will contribute the most to improving habitat and protecting species from harm

The Committee on the Status of Species at Risk in Ontario (COSSARO) must be able to determine the status of species, which is essential to the proper functioning of the Endangered Species Act (ESA).
Habitat loss or degradation is a primary cause for species decline. Automatic protection, combined with clear communication on where impacts can and cannot occur, would protect species while providing certainty of what to expect for economic development.

Delays and inaction are detrimental to species while at the same time providing unproven and speculative economic benefit. The government should focus on balancing the need to provide the resources for protecting species and habitats with clear regulations on allowable and non-allowable economic development.

I believe that endangered species and their environments can co-exist with economic development. It is essential to deny a permit for an activity that would harm a species or its habitat. Permits allowing harm to endangered species or their habitat poses considerable risk so need to come with strict conditions. Extinction is permanent and a healthy environment benefits all Ontarians (and Canadians).