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How might Ontario‘s proposed Bill 5 play out for wildlife across the province?
The answer depends on the species, but conservation biologists are drawing attention to specific changes to the province’s current Endangered Species Act that will upend years of conservation practice and progress if the bill passes as currently written.
Premier Doug Ford has promoted the sweeping bill as a way to reduce long delays in approval for resource projects in the north and to clear a path for developers in the urbanized south. Wildlife experts say the bill goes too far in removing accountability and transparency in how species and habitat are handled when projects go forward.
The net result, which may take years to play out, could be disastrous for species that are currently listed as endangered and many more that have yet to be listed.
The following six examples were selected by a group of researchers to illustrate the multiple ways Bill 5’s provisions stand to reduce the survival chances for a much larger number of species across the province.
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Conservation groups warn of loss of species protections in Ontario’s Bill 5
Boreal caribou
The degradation of Boreal Caribou habitat in Ontario would affect numerous other species.GARY AND JOANIE MCGUFFIN
A signature Canadian mammal stands at the heart of the debate surrounding Bill 5 and its goal of accelerating mining projects in Ontario. If the bill passes in its current form, northern Ontario’s mineral-rich Ring of Fire region could immediately be declared a “special economic zone,” inviting a protracted human presence that would be detrimental to boreal caribou. But the scale of the impact would be difficult to track. Members of the threatened species typically roam over more than 1,000 square kilometres.
Exploration work, road building and other activities associated with mining have a cumulative effect on caribou, which the special economic zone status would give proponents license to disregard. The degradation of caribou habitat would affect numerous other species that rely on the same ecosystem.
Eastern small-footed bat
The habitat of the Eastern small-footed bat overlaps with human populations in parts of the province.Sherri and Brock Fenton/Supplied
Ontario‘s current species law prohibits harming or harassing members of a species that are listed as endangered in the province. Under Bill 5, the reference to harassment would disappear. For species like the Eastern small-footed bat – whose habitat overlaps with human populations near the Niagara Escarpment, Toronto‘s Greenbelt and along the Ottawa Valley – the change creates potential for interference, including from unchecked development at sites close to where the bats roost. The fact that the bats are rarely seen makes it even harder to determine where they live and where habitats should be protected. Bill 5 makes it easier to err on the side of crowding them out.
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Redside dace
Three quarters of the Redside Dace population is located in southern Ontario.Trevor Pitcher/Supplied
Known for its striking crimson stripes, the endangered Redside dace makes its home in cold, freshwater streams in southern Ontario. More than three quarters of the province’s Redside dace population is located in the Greater Toronto Area. The fish is currently the subject of a captive breeding program with the goal of reintroducing it in places where its natural habitat has been restored. Bill 5 would eliminate species recovery as an objective of the province’s current conservation law. This would eliminate the need for such breeding programs as well as efforts to restore former habitats where the fish could be brought back.
Jefferson salamander
The Jefferson Salamander is among the species most at risk from the proposed Highway 413.Jessica Linton/Supplied
This palm-sized amphibian is among the Ontario native species most at risk from the construction of the proposed Highway 413, which the province is seeking to build northeast of Toronto. The salamander breeds in small ponds before moving several hundred meters away to live underground in deciduous forests. Current regulations protect all habitat within a 350-meter radius of a breeding pond. Bill 5’s redefinition of critical habitat to the dwelling place of a species rather than any area a species relies on would leave only the ponds protected. This would make it far more likely that the species would be eliminated from a particular development location even while proponents are following the new law’s requirements.
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Wood-poppy
Wood-poppies are now found in only five locations in Canada.Jenny McCune/Supplied
Rare and endangered plants have the added disadvantage that they are unable to move when local habitat is threatened. In Canada, Wood-poppies are now found only in five locations, all of which are in Ontario. One of the five is on a parcel of land that was recently bought by a developer. The province’s Endangered Species Act requires the developer to work with an environmental consultant to mitigate harm to the population and to invest in activities that result in a net benefit to the species, such as creating a buffer zone around the plants or offsetting negative effects by making improvements elsewhere. Under Bill 5 the developer would be required to act in good faith but with no direct oversight by government authorities.
Kirtland’s warbler
Kirtland’s warblers have very specific habitat requirements for breeding.Jim Forrest/Supplied
Dense stands of young Jack pine are the preferred breeding sites for the Kirtland’s warbler, a small migratory bird. Such sites have typically arisen from naturally occurring forest fires and have become rare in a human-dominated landscape. For decades, there were no known cases of Kirtland’s warblers breeding in Ontario. This has changed recently, thanks to efforts to create and manage breeding habitat. Such work would no longer be supported by Bill 5, which has the potential to reverse progress made by biologists and volunteers to restore the species to Ontario. And if the warbler disappears from the province again, the new legislation would then allow the government to remove it from its list of species at risk.
Edited and condensed from a list compiled by Ryan Norris and Quinn Webber, University of Guelph, Jenny McCune, University of Lethbridge and Terence Pitcher, University of Windsor.