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. Ontario’s government introduced a similar omnibus bill with profound implications for the environment.
The 420-page Bill C-38 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. The 327-page bill seriously affects no less than six important resource and wildlife laws, with amendments that strike at the heart of Ontario’s Endangered Species Act and other vital environmental legislation. These changes would reduce the level of protection and undermine public management of cherished forests, lakes, and rivers and the immeasurable benefits they provide.
When Ontario introduced its Endangered Species 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, only a few years before the world came together to celebrate the 2010 United Nations International Year of Biodiversity.
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 rainforest nation or our overfished oceans. Scientists say Ontario is particularly vulnerable to biodiversity decline and has a global responsibility for stewardship.
A study in the renowned scientific journal The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences identified the boreal forest (which makes up more than 40 percent of Ontario) as the biome on the planet most vulnerable to damage from industrial activities and the effects of human-caused global warming. The study’s authors showed that in recent years these areas have lost more forest cover to resource development and natural disturbances exacerbated by human-caused climate change than any other biome on the planetincluding tropical rainforests such as the Amazon.
By weakening its Endangered Species Acteliminating 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 landsOntario will be unprepared to cope with ongoing threats to its precious ecosystems and biodiversity, such as urban sprawl, the spread of invasive species, and climate change.
2012 Vancouver Free Press