The proposed changes to the…

The proposed changes to the OWES are going to be incredibly damaging to Ontario's natural heritage systems and to built infrastructure into the future.

Completely removing MNRF interaction and oversight destroys the value of this system. Limiting its use to a single 'decision maker' and treating it as a 'point-in-time' will create more work in the end if a place has to be evaluated multiple times by different 'decision makers.' Allowing individuals to use 'professional judgment' rather than having direct MNRF reporting and oversight will create opportunities for serious errors with no recourse. Not recommending contact with other outside agencies and limiting suggestions for who could be contacted to vague statements will make this system even more fractured and useless.

Limiting the scope of the OWES, removing the concept of complexes, and no longer identifying hydrologic function as a way to delineate a wetland will make this evaluation system obsolete and will offer zero protection to important wetland systems. Paving over and developing on top of these systems will inevitably lead to serious infrastructure damage in the future when hydrologic function is so impaired that we experience even more aggressive and flashy flooding. Removing habitat for significant species as an important aspect of the scoring system will also create a huge opportunity for more biodiversity loss. As we destroy these habitats, these species will disappear. We can't just create more space in the future as an 'offset' - they won't be able to move fast enough.

Making it so that one does not have to evaluate wetlands where private landowner permission is not provided is also going to create an opportunity for this 'professional judgment' to ignore significant aspects of wetlands completely.

I have SERIOUS concerns about this proposed legislation. It is designed to ignore environmental concern and shift way too much of the burden onto already over-capacity municipalities. Housing is admittedly important, but urban densification is the answer. Not sprawl. Not enriching private interests at the expense of future taxpayers.