Ontario follows feds with bill that abandons wildlife protection

Proposed Bill 55 affects no less than six major resource laws, including crucial Endangered Species Act

Canada’s environmental laws are under attack by both the federal and Ontario governments. In Ottawa, the government introduced Bill C-38 to implement far-reaching measures announced in its budget. The 420-page bill will gut a raft of federal laws passed over the years to ensure that our air, water and most vulnerable wildlife populations are protected. Casualties include the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act, Fisheries Act, Species at Risk Act, National Round Table on the Environment and the Economy Act and the Kyoto Implementation Act.

In a surprisingly similar action, the government of Ontario recently introduced Bill 55, which seriously affects no less than six important resource and wildlife laws, with amendments that strike at the heart of Ontario’s Endangered Species Act.

When Ontario introduced the act in 2007, legal experts and advocates lauded it as one of the strongest environmental laws in North America. Ontario’s leadership was commendable, as it established a strong legal benchmark to protect wildlife at risk in the province, such as caribou, snapping turtles and rare Carolinian forests.

Although biodiversity loss receives less attention than issues such as climate change, it threatens the very life-support systems of our planet: clear air, clean water and productive soil. This is not a problem of some far-off tropical rain forest nation. Scientists say Ontario is particularly vulnerable to biodiversity decline and has a global responsibility for stewardship. A study in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences identified the boreal forest (which makes up more than 40 per cent of Ontario) as the biome on the planet most vulnerable to damage from industrial activities and the effects of human-caused global warming.

By weakening its Endangered Species Act — eliminating legal timelines for the development of species recovery strategies, creating loopholes for resource industries like forestry and mining, and further limiting legal protection of endangered wildlife on private lands — Ontario will be unprepared to cope with ongoing threats to its precious ecosystems and biodiversity.

The federal government has justified its efforts to eviscerate environmental laws by cynically claiming that caring for nature is a barrier to economic prosperity. But this ideologically driven agenda will harm our nation and undermine the future for our children. We can’t hope to have healthy economies and communities in Ontario or the rest of Canada without healthy ecosystems and species diversity.

A recent study by the David Suzuki Foundation found that biodiversity in Ontario’s Greenbelt alone helps to filter, store and regulate drinking water for millions of people in the Greater Toronto Area — a service worth over $1 billion a year that saves cash-strapped municipalities hundreds of millions in capital costs just to upgrade water infrastructure.

The environment can’t simply be a fair-weather friend for politicians running for election. True leadership means committing to the long haul and ensuring that air, water, land and wildlife are protected now and into the future in Ontario and across Canada.

David Suzuki is the host of the CBC’s The Nature of Things and author of more than 30 books on ecology.

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