Proposed Bill 5 threatens Ontario wildlife and ecosystems

Ontario’s Endangered Species Act (ESA) protects species at risk and habitats they require to survive. It is one of the most important pieces of legislation protecting biodiversity in Ontario. In its latest assault on our natural heritage, the PC government under Premier Doug Ford has proposed Bill 5 “Protect Ontario by Unleashing our Economy Act, 2025”, which will first amend the ESA and then replace it altogether with much weaker legislation. The ESA will be replaced by two acts: the Special Economic Zone Act and the Species Conservation Act. In no way are these acts responsible replacements for the ESA. Rather, they represent the type of unfettered development and natural resource extraction we have grown accustomed to seeing elsewhere and saying: “that will never happen in Canada”. 

If we do not act now, it will happen in Canada.

As scientists, we believe Bill 5 will have catastrophic consequences for wildlife in Ontario. Below, we expand on some of the ways the proposed changes will negatively impact wildlife and species at risk in Ontario.

Under the current ESA, species are designated to be at risk by an independent body (the Committee on the Status of Species at Risk in Ontario, or COSSARO) that assesses the best available scientific evidence. 

Shockingly, under Bill 5, Cabinet would have the power to decide which species are protected and which are not. At present, COSSARO committee members are independent scientists or members of the public who propose species to be listed under the ESA. New legislation would short circuit this process and politicians would have the power to deny the listing status of any given species. This politicizing of the decision-making process undermines any semblance of an evidence-based approach, a moniker that the Ontario government is now desperately pretending to uphold. Development projects will proceed unfettered if species can be willfully removed from legislative protection.

For a short time each spring, the Endangered Jefferson salamander breed in small, fish-less ponds that are scattered throughout southern Ontario. After breeding, this salamander moves up to several hundred meters away from breeding ponds to live largely solitary lives in deciduous forest for the remainder of the year. Under Bill 5, breeding ponds would be protected but the forests they rely upon to survive for the rest of the year would be vulnerable to ongoing development and resource extraction, possibly pushing this species to the brink of extirpation in the province. 

(Submitted)

Unfortunately, it gets worse. Currently, developers must apply for special permits when threatened species or their habitats are involved. There is a due process that identifies options and actions to reduce or mitigate harm, and to invest in activities that result in an overall net benefit to the species. Under Bill 5, this process will be replaced by an online registration in which companies submit their application for development and can begin immediately. Requirements to protect species will then be left in the ‘good faith’ of developers with irreversible land use decisions in the hands of for-profit companies with little to no regulatory oversight and no actual transparency. It’s the fox guarding the henhouse.

Bill 5 is also a direct attack on the habitats threatened species reply upon. The ESA legislates that habitat used by threatened species is protected, but Bill 5 aims to restrict the definition of habitat to only breeding and hibernation sites, completely ignoring habitat required at other stages of a species life cycle. Narrowing the definition of habitat is short sighted and is sure to result in mortality of species at risk throughout the year. 

Further exacerbating the issue is the removal of “harassment” from legislation. Under the ESA, it is illegal to harass species at risk through, for example, construction adjacent to their habitat. The proposed Species Conservation Act does not include ‘harassment’, meaning that new development and resource extraction activities will undoubtedly disturb and possibly kill species at risk.

Consider, for example, the implication for the tens of millions of migratory birds that breed in Ontario: we know from hundreds of scientific studies that these species also require habitat to refuel during migration and to survive the non-breeding period, but under Bill 5 these habitats will no longer be protected. Similarly, wide ranging boreal caribou require thousands of square kilometers of undisturbed boreal forest to survive and will disappear from the landscape if only small habitat features (e.g., where females have their calves) are afforded effective protection. This lack of protection is akin to us being safe in our house but vulnerable once we leave it. The science on species at risk is entirely clear: without effective habitat protections for the whole life cycle of species, this is a planning for extinction. It’s only a matter of time.

Caribou are listed as Threatened in Ontario as a result of habitat loss but face increasing pressure from development companies due to natural resource extraction in northern Ontario.

(Quinn Webber)

Finally, the Special Economic Zones Act is among the most alarming pieces of the proposed legislation. The proposed Act would allow Cabinet to create a “special economic zone” in any location for any reason. Once created, proponents will be allowed to operate without regulation. No other provincial law will be applicable. This means environmental, health, safety, or municipal laws will be ignored within this zone. The unbounded power from Cabinet provided to companies within these zones has no legislative oversight. The application of a Special Economic Zone should send chills down the collective spines of Ontarians as these zones could be applied anywhere at any time. Consider your own home, cottage, or favourite campsite for a moment. And then consider what it might look like if it falls within a special economic zone. 

Canada’s current geo-political crisis will see accelerated development of natural resources with impacts on species at risk. But this does not necessitate government removing scientific accountability from the approvals process. It remains the role and legal responsibility of government to ensure that best available science is utilized to support the protection of our natural heritage. Bill 5 is a wholesale abdication of that role and responsibility under the guise of emergency measures, not unlike the evisceration of USA’s Endangered Species Act being witnessed south of the border.

There are no second chances. Once species are gone, they are gone forever. Help us protect our wildlife and ecosystems in Ontario by keeping politics out of crucial decision making on threatened species. We must oppose Bill 5 before it is too late. 

Here are three things you can do: 

1. Provide comments on the public registry
2. Sign available petitions, like the ones from Ontario Nature or EcoJustice
3. Send a direct message to your MPP

Dr. Ryan Norris and Quinn Webber are professors in the Department of Integrative Biology at the University of Guelph.

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