Perplexed by what he describes as its absurdity, Greater Sudbury Watershed Alliance chair Richard Witham doesn’t mince words when it comes to provincial Bill 5.
Dubbed the “Protect Ontario by Unleashing Our Economy Act,” he said the province’s red-tape reduction bill doesn’t live up to its “Protect Ontario” name when it comes to the environment.
Within the omnibus act is the Special Economic Zones Act, which allows the province to set up designated special economic zones which are exempt from municipal or provincial rules.
This, Witham said, allows people “to operate unilaterally, and the public and legislature will have no input whatsoever into those decisions, nor will they necessarily find out about them.”
“It’s absurd what they’re doing legislatively, taking that kind of power over,” he said, later adding that it’s “constitutionally a nightmare.”
There’s no real information about what might qualify as a special economic zone, he said, which allows the province to “select any area within the province to create a special economic zone, and then they can decide who can operate within that particular zone and whether they have to obey any municipal or provincial laws.”
Within Bill 5, the government is also proposing that they exempt the Eagle’s Nest Mine in the Ring of Fire and a municipal dump in Chatham-Kent from environmental assessments.
“So, they’re not making any decisions based on scientific fact or potential environmental effects,” Witham said. “In this day and age, how does this make any sense whatsoever?”
These measures are a far cry from what Provincial Energy and Mines Minister Stephen Lecce told local journalists in Sudbury last month, during his tour of Northern Ontario to promote Bill 5.
Throughout his presentation and answers to journalists’ questions, Lecce repeatedly affirmed that economic activity would not come at the expense of the environment or the province’s duty to consult with First Nations.
In addition to the Special Economic Zones Act calling Lecce’s assertions to question, Witham cited the omnibus bill’s proposed repealing of the Endangered Species Act as another component which would eliminate environmental protections if ratified.
Unlike the Special Economic Zones Act, which would allow developers to forgo various rules within a designated area, repealing the Endangered Species Act would affect the entire province.
The Species Conservation Act would replace the Endangered Species Act and offer protections for a much smaller habitat than what is currently protected.
Ecojustice Canada has criticized the proposed Species Conservation Act as offering “very limited protection to only a tiny fraction of the habitats species need to survive and recover.”
Witham echoed this sentiment, noting that the protected area would shift from a broader catchment area to “the den or nest, which does nothing to protect the area that the species may need in order to survive and gather things, etc.”
There are various other points of contention within Bill 5, Witham said, including the removal of archeological assessments and Mining Act amendments which would reduce public oversight, but the special economic zones, foregoing environmental assessments and repealing the Endangered Species Act are his main objections.
The Greater Sudbury Watershed Alliance is a volunteer water stewardship organization which represents a number of smaller groups throughout the Greater Sudbury area
Among member groups is the Long Lake Stewardship Committee, whose leadership forwarded a form letter opposing Bill 5 for members to fill out which the Federation of Ontario Cottagers’ Associations drafted.
“The lakes, forests, wetlands, wildlife and watersheds of Ontario are not expendable in pursuit of development," the letter reads. “This bill purports to ‘protect Ontario’ but it will have the opposite effect. The Ontario we call home does not abrogate the rights of its citizens in pursuit of economic gains for private enterprise.”
Witham is encouraging those with concerns about Bill 5 to submit comments to the province online by clicking here. The 30-day comment period ends at 11:59 p.m. on May 17.
Even after this deadline, he said letters can still be sent to government officials.
Witham’s concern is that this matter is sliding in under the radar while various other things, such as the provincial budget and ongoing threat of U.S. tariffs, monopolize the news cycle.
“The more people who protest this the better, because if we don’t push back we’ll be in a situation where this is approved,” he said. “We’re encouraging anyone and everyone to write to oppose this particular piece of legislation.”
Bill 5 received the second of three readings earlier this month. Both of Sudbury’s NDP MPPs (France Gélinas in Nickel Belt and Jamie West in Sudbury) voted against the bill, whose second reading passed by a vote of 70-43.
Legal Advocates for Nature’s Defence and the Anishinabek Nation, which represents 39 member First Nations in Ontario, are also calling for Queen’s Park to halt Bill 5.
Tyler Clarke covers city hall and political affairs for Sudbury.com.
