Federal voters should look to Ontario’s vanishing environmental protections

In the quick run up to another major election for Ontario voters, this time to choose the country’s next prime minister, the recent provincial election, as well as the previous two won by Doug Ford and his PCs, serve as reminders of a growing trend. 

The electorate has been given little information about how each of the major parties plans to reduce emissions, live up to Canada’s current commitments under international agreements and, perhaps most importantly for many voters, create the energy economy of the future.

The Liberals, led by Mark Carney, have scrapped the consumer carbon tax, which addressed roughly 25 to 35 percent of emissions across the country. On April 1, the federal fuel tax was dropped and provinces no longer had to have their own consumer carbon pricing plan in place. Industrial carbon taxes are still in place to address roughly 70 percent of Canada’s emissions. 

What remains unclear is what the Liberals plan to do now. 

An announcement was released last month by the caretaker government under Mark Carney, who has been switching hats between leader of the Liberals vying to win the election, and Prime Minister holding government together during unprecedented times.

The press release explained that to offset unchecked consumer emissions, those applied to the industrial sector will be tightened and strategically adapted to ensure more benefits to help Canadian companies work with global markets that are increasingly demanding less carbon intensive goods (the U.S. is moving in the opposite direction).  

The David Suzuki Foundation has emphasized that while strengthening the industrial carbon pricing plan is critical, dropping the consumer equivalent will have deep consequences: “rebates funded by this tax will also disappear, leaving many households worse off. Without complementary policies like incentives, lower fuel prices will slow the transition to clean energy, delaying the switch from furnaces to heat pumps and gas cars to EVs, as well as energy-efficiency upgrades,” the foundation warned the day before the consumer carbon tax was ended.

“This setback will require stronger policies elsewhere to support our international emissions and pollution commitments.” 

We don’t know what those are. 

Pierre Poilievre and his Conservatives oppose the carbon tax entirely, but have failed to produce an alternative plan for voters to assess, before they go to the polls at the end of the month. 

The NDP, led by Jagmeet Singh, have parroted most of what the Liberals have already done, vowing to keep the consumer carbon tax in the scrap bin, while redirecting $18 billion in “corporate handouts” to oil and gas companies to help families during the transition to a clean economy. It’s unclear how this would be done.

We don’t have to look south of the border to see the fallout from an election fought with few details provided to voters, who are now asking why they were not told of the sweeping changes wrecking the economy and ripping apart the country’s public institutions.

The same questions have been raised right here in Ontario. A lack of affordability and the runaway housing market, a devastated healthcare system and deep gaps across post-secondary, secondary and elementary education were barely addressed in the PC platform; that didn’t stop Ford from winning another powerful majority.

In 2018, he swept to power largely as a change candidate after 15 years of Liberal rule in Ontario.

Little was known of his plan for the environment, and many voters didn’t care.

He promptly scrapped the consumer rebate on electric vehicles, tanking sales. Planning for future growth was handed to the home development industry, driving prices even higher while locking in more environmentally devastating sprawl.

Among the damage caused by Ford’s plans, after voters were left in the dark, is the situation now facing Ontario’s Conservation Authorities, responsible for protecting wetlands. 

They are the kidneys of the environment—filtering the water Ontarians use, storing carbon, providing crucial habitats for countless species, and acting as natural flood barriers. 

Ontario’s municipal planning rules prohibit development in Provincially Significant Wetlands (PSWs), which are designated by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry for their biological, social, and hydrological importance. Local governments must ensure development does not harm wetlands, while Conservation Authorities oversee and permit projects near non-provincially protected wetlands. 

In 2017, Ontario released A Wetland Conservation Strategy for Ontario 2017-2030, aiming to halt wetland loss in southern Ontario by 2025 and achieve a net gain by 2030, providing a framework for long-term conservation efforts.

The PC government has since steadily eroded protections for the province’s wetland ecosystems to pave the way for development when they came into power in 2018.

“Governments ignore the necessity of protecting wetlands at their peril,” Ontariogreen Conservation Association’s executive director and manager of environmental education, Liz Benneian, told The Pointer.

Environmental education organization ‘Ontariogreen Conservation Association’ is one of 87 organizations that partnered with Ontario Nature to urge the provincial government to restore wetland protections in Ontario. Late last year, the coalition sent a letter to the ministries of Environment, Conservation and Parks, Natural Resources, and Municipal Affairs and Housing.

More than four months later, only the Ministry of Natural Resources acknowledged the letter, with no word from the other two ministries.

This is the same government that has dismantled critical policies and programs designed to protect wetlands over the years. “A trend which must be reversed,” the letter stated.

In 2022, the PCs made changes to the wetland evaluation system leading to Southern Ontario losing over 72 percent of its original wetland area to urban sprawl and agricultural drainage.

By the early 1980s, southern Ontario had lost 68 PERCENT of its original wetlands, with an additional four percent lost by 2020. In areas like the Greater Toronto Area and the agricultural southwest, over 85 percent have disappeared.

(Environmental Defence)

Wetlands are powerful carbon sinks, absorbing carbon dioxide as plants grow. When these plants die, the carbon is not released back into the atmosphere but instead sinks to the bottom of the wetland, where it remains trapped in partially decomposed plant matter and is stored for hundreds or even thousands of years. 

Northern Ontario’s boreal peatlands, including the Hudson Bay lowlands— the second largest peatland complex on Earth—hold a significant portion of the province’s 29 billion tons of carbon.

Ontario holds about 25 percent of Canada’s wetlands.

(Ontario Biodiversity Council)

Wetlands not only store carbon but also play a crucial role in flood prevention, a growing issue in Ontario that is costing the province millions. 

The intense rainfall last July and August, for example, resulted in an estimated $940 million in insured damages, according to initial assessments by Catastrophe Indices and Quantification Inc. (CatIQ), as reported by the Insurance Bureau of Canada.

The federal government's 2030 Emissions Reduction Plan outlines the pathway to achieving climate targets, emphasizing nature-based solutions like wetland conservation and restoration.

(Ontario Nature)

Wetlands “slow floodwaters and flows” and serve as vital buffers against extreme weather events, Conservation Ontario’s general manager Angela Coleman said during a Standing Committee session on Heritage, Infrastructure, and Cultural Policy while discussing Bill 23, the More Homes Built Faster Act.

Under the Ford government, not only were wetlands ignored, but the very organizations tasked with protecting them were stripped of their power.

Conservation authorities, responsible for managing wetlands, watercourses, and natural areas across watersheds, oversee over $3.8 billion in flood control infrastructure, playing a critical role in preventing flood-related damage while using their expertise to protect water quality, restore ecosystems, and guide environmentally sound land-use decisions.

In the Region of Peel, Credit Valley Conservation (CVC) is leading the charge in protecting the Credit River Watershed—an urban wetland teeming with life that shelters at-risk species like the western chorus frog, supports migratory birds such as the eastern whip-poor-will and chimney swift, and provides a home for turtles, muskrats, mink, and beavers. Even fish like the white sucker navigate its waters, though invasive carp threaten its balance—an issue CVC is actively combating.

CVC is also restoring Rattray Marsh by removing sediment buildup and fencing off vulnerable plant life from invasive species. 

The organization has also partnered with the Region of Peel and Toronto and Region Conservation Authority to create new wetland habitats at the Jim Tovey Lakeview Conservation Area while working with private landowners to restore aquatic ecosystems.

The Toronto Region Conservation Authority has been pivotal in restoring wetlands in the GTA, including the Kortright Farm project: in 2008, a wetland was created in a fallow agricultural field; in 2009, the wetland was regraded, tile drains removed, and buffers planted; by 2011, emergent vegetation had established, and agricultural plots were added around the wetland. Aerial photos show the transformation from 2005 (before) to 2009 (after restoration).

(TRCA)

Among its many roles, urban wetlands are nature’s unsung heroes, soaking up rainfall to prevent floods, releasing water slowly to curb droughts, and filtering pollutants to keep waterways clean.

Weakened wetland protections have real consequences. In July and August 2024, Mississauga experienced two "100-year storms," leading to severe basement and highway flooding—clear evidence of what happens when natural flood defences are lost.

(City of Mississauga)

Despite their vital role, conservation authorities have been stripped of their power.

Between 2020 and 2022, the Doug Ford government weakened the Conservation Authorities Act by repealing 36 regulations, limiting conservation authorities' ability to protect wetlands. 

Among the many changes were provisions preventing conservation authorities from considering “pollution” or “conservation” when issuing permits, granting the Minister of Natural Resources the power to approve developments, allowing Ministerial Zoning Orders (MZOs) to override conservation authority decisions even in flood-prone areas, and requiring authorities to enter agreements that let developers pay fees in exchange for destroying endangered species habitats—all under the guise of making it “easier to build the right type of housing in the right place.”

It was part of the province’s goal to build 1.5 million homes by 2031, a target now widely seen as unattainable given the government’s own projections and the recent decline in housing starts. 

In 2022, the province’s Housing Affordability Task Force reported that there’s enough land already designated for development to address housing needs.

Ontario Nature is urging the government to reverse all these decisions that prioritize developers over conservation authorities and the environment. 

They are advocating for the preservation of the Growth Plan’s protections for non-provincially significant wetlands in the Greater Golden Horseshoe, as the new Provincial Planning Statement weakens these safeguards, putting 160,000 hectares of wetlands at risk of development. 

The organization is also pressing for the reversal of the decision to shrink the regulated buffer around provincially significant wetlands from 120 meters to just 30 meters.

Research and science show to maintain the ecological integrity of wetlands, a minimum 100-meter buffer is often considered necessary. “Reducing this to 30 meters is not a science-based decision,” Ontario Nature’s conservation policy and campaigns director Tony Morris noted.

In January 2023, the Ontario Wetland Evaluation System (OWES) was updated, making it harder for smaller wetlands to maintain Provincially Significant Wetland (PSW) status due to changes that allowed wetland networks to be evaluated individually and removed high point values for habitats of threatened species. The Ministry of Natural Resources was also removed from overseeing evaluations.

(Environmental Defence)

Under the new system, “the scoring is no longer science-based. Wetland complexes, which may consist of small, interconnected features, are now evaluated as individual wetlands, leading to lower scores as well as now, habitat for endangered or threatened species is not included in the scoring, which is quite concerning, as 20 percent of Ontario's species at risk need wetlands for survival,” Morris explained.

“Wetlands are important for biodiversity. They support many species that rely on them for part of their life cycle or where they go get food. Some species, like turtles—of which all eight of Ontario's species are endangered—are completely dependent on wetlands,” Benneian said.

She compares disregarding smaller wetlands in a complex to trying to operate a car while removing parts of the engine: "Each piece is essential for the wetland complex to function properly. You can't evaluate smaller wetlands that are attached to bigger wetlands and pretend that you can evaluate them in isolation.”

Wetlands are not just water systems—they also act as forests. The loss of wetlands means losing critical tree cover.

This is especially concerning as provinces across Canada are making significant progress toward protecting 30 percent of their lands and waters by 2030. British Columbia leads at 20 percent, while Ontario remains behind, protecting just 11 percent.

“In Niagara, we have only about 17 percent forest cover, far below the 30 percent minimum recommended by Environment Canada for a healthy environment. This puts us at half the bare minimum,” Benneian noted.

“If we disregard smaller wetlands, which also serve as forests, and allow them to be developed, we risk losing a significant portion of our already limited tree canopy.”

Between March 2023 and July 2024, nearly 600 hectares of Provincially Significant Wetlands lost their designation across multiple municipalities. 

In Niagara, only 14 percent of the original wetlands remain—the highest loss of any region in Ontario. Once predominantly wetlands, much of the area's natural habitat has been destroyed, putting around 10 percent or 220 of local species at risk.
 

Niagara's Wainfleet Wetland is home to various wildlife, including waterfowl, raptors, mammals, fish, turtles, amphibians and over 50 bird species including Yellow Warblers, Great Blue Herons, Egrets, and Bald Eagles.

(Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority)

The Niagara region estimates 80 percent of its wetlands could now be opened for development. The Halton Conservation Authority warned that 90 to 95 percent of its remaining wetlands face a similar risk.

Northern Map Turtle, Least Bittern, Eastern Ribbonsnake, and Rapids Clubtail are some of the provincially-listed species at risk that rely on Ontario’s wetlands to carry out their lifecycle.

(Government of Ontario/Anushka Yadav)

In the letter, the groups call on the Ford government to restore and strengthen the Ontario Wetland Evaluation System (OWES) by better reflecting wetland connectivity, endangered species habitat, and Indigenous rights. 

Past versions have failed to accurately include Indigenous values, with a lack of community response resulting in zero scores. The letter notes that recent changes to OWES threaten species important to Indigenous Peoples, and urges the MNR to collaborate with them to address these concerns.

The groups also urge all three ministries to implement Article 26 of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) in environmental decision-making which affirms Indigenous Peoples' right to their lands and resources, that current legislation fails to align with.

In October 2024, the government’s revised Provincial Planning Statement failed to include key policies that once acted as a crucial safeguard for wetland protection.

Prior to these sweeping changes, Ontario’s Auditor General revealed that the Wetland Conservation Strategy 2017-2030 was ‘quietly abandoned’ by the PCs in 2021, which the coalition is now asking the government to reinstate to help “reverse wetland loss in the upcoming years.”

The Auditor General’s 2021 report stated that the strategy was deemed an “archived product of a previous government,” with its targets and direction no longer in effect. The Ministry of Natural Resources also did not notify or consult the public about this decision as required under the Environmental Bill of Rights, which the PCs have consistently undermined over the years. 

“As a result, wetland researchers, stakeholders and the public were unaware that the strategy and its targets had been cancelled.”

The PCs’ impact on Ontario’s wetlands goes beyond weakening environmental protections and limiting public consultation—it includes failing to prioritize natural infrastructure in federal funding allocations. A February 2025 report by the Institutes for Research and Development on Inclusion and Society (IISD) found that provincial funding policies are blocking municipalities from strengthening their natural infrastructure.

Despite federal programs like the Investing in Canada Infrastructure Program (ICIP) allowing for natural infrastructure funding, Ontario has repeatedly sidelined it. 

In both 2019 and 2021, the province restricted ICIP’s Green Infrastructure stream to traditional infrastructure projects—first to stormwater and potable water systems, then only to potable water facilities. At no point was natural infrastructure considered eligible.

Municipalities are recognizing the financial and environmental value of wetlands and forests. A survey by the Canadian Water and Wastewater Association (CWWA) found that over 80 percent of respondents across Canada see natural infrastructure as a viable solution to infrastructure challenges, particularly for stormwater management, flood and erosion mitigation, and water quality improvements. 

In Pelham, a study supported by the Greenbelt Foundation found the town’s natural assets provide over $585 million in stormwater management benefits alone—far more cost-effective than built infrastructure. These natural assets also contribute to carbon sequestration, recreation, and water quality improvements, with an estimated annual value between $22.1 million and $24.7 million.

Despite this growing interest, local governments face major barriers to implementation—not just in accessing funding, but in meeting capacity and maintenance needs.

“More and more, municipal leaders and city councillors are open to adopting natural infrastructure. But that’s where the challenges are—not just in accessing funding, but also in meeting specific capacity and maintenance needs,” IISD’s director of water management Dimple Roy told The Pointer.

“Most municipalities have engineers and staff experienced in traditional gray infrastructure, but they often lack expertise in ecosystem management, landscape architecture, and nature-based solutions like bio-retention areas or bio-remediation systems for stormwater management. We're beginning to flag that some of those newer professional development needs and capacity needs need to be addressed, and in that, there's an opportunity.”

During the recent provincial election, Ontario Nature reached out to all the major political parties to raise wetland protection as a critical environmental concern. The PCs, Liberals, and New Democratic Party were silent—only the Green Party of Ontario responded.

“We know, obviously, that environmental issues were not very prominent during the most recent provincial election. But that doesn't mean Ontarians don't care about nature—we know we do,” Morris said. 

“Regardless of who’s in power, there needs to be action to protect and restore nature.”

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