Statement by Phil Pothen, Counsel and Ontario Environment Program Manager

Toronto | Traditional territories of the Mississaugas of the Credit, the Anishinaabeg, the Haudenosaunee, and the Wendat – By voting “yes” to Bill 5 on its third and final reading, the Ontario government has knowingly inflicted a grievous blow against the rule of law, and likely condemned many of the province’s endangered and threatened species to extinction or extirpation (which is when a species disappears completely from a part of its former range).

From the moment that Bill 5 receives Royal Assent, the Premier and his cabinet will have unfettered power to exempt any person or business they like from any provincial or municipal law they choose, in as much of the province as they like, for any purpose, and based on whatever criteria they themselves decide. They will also be empowered to single out people and companies for harsher treatment or the stripping away of their statutory rights.  

Regardless of what “trusted proponents”, “designated projects”, “special economic zones” are actually designated, Bill 5 will start to chill criticism of the government immediately.  Bill 5’s replacement of fixed rules with arbitrary favours will reduce citizens, municipalities, workers and businesses into supplicants who stand to gain from cultivating the Premier’s good-will, and stand to lose out badly if they publicly challenge the current government or criticize its actions.  

Today’s vote also means that days are numbered for many of Ontario’s Species at Risk. Schedule 2 of Bill 5, which comes into force immediately, strips protection from almost all of the habitat that endangered, threatened and special concern species require to survive and reproduce, removing even the recognition of habitat beyond the immediate surroundings of birds’ nests and badger sets, or the critical root zones of individual plants and trees. Even these restricted areas will not receive any form of automatic protection.

Bill 5 was presented to the public, and to many of the MPPs who voted for it, as a targeted emergency law focused on speeding up approvals for northern mines, and for infrastructure and special critical industries required to decouple Ontario’s economy from the United States. However legal and technical experts – have made it clear that Bill 5 powers can be used for any purpose, and applied to laws with no direct connection to mining or nation-building infrastructure – from minimum wages and collective bargaining to protections against trespass and the contamination of water.

Starting with the Dresden Dump, Environmental Defence will oppose the most egregious individual abuses of Bill 5 powers. However, just like this government’s Greenbelt removals, we remain steadfast in working with our allies to ensure that Bill 5 is repealed as quickly and completely as possible.

ABOUT ENVIRONMENTAL DEFENCE (environmentaldefence.ca): Environmental Defence is a leading Canadian environmental advocacy organization that works with government, industry and individuals to defend clean water, a safe climate and healthy communities.