<html><body style="overflow-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><head><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><div style="overflow-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space; position: relative;"><div><div dir="auto" style="overflow-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><div dir="auto" style="overflow-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><div style="overflow-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><div style="overflow-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><div><div class="row" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-right: -15px; margin-left: -15px; caret-color: rgb(51, 51, 51); color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: "Merriweather Sans", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><div class="tsArticleContainer star true" data-length="39" data-lpos="asset|body" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div id="asset-content" data-asset-uuid="c52a3cc2-40f8-574b-aa14-a38984ed7b5b" class="tsArticle" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: flex; margin-top: 24px;"><div class="asset-body" style="box-sizing: border-box; width: 690px; padding: 0px; max-width: 100%; margin: 0px auto; position: relative !important;"><div class="article-pe-author-detail-container" data-lpos="asset|header" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: flex; row-gap: 16px; align-items: center; flex-wrap: nowrap; margin-bottom: 24px; line-height: 20px;"><span id="author-823dc924-a1d0-11ed-a307-33522ff9e3cb-asset-c52a3cc2-40f8-574b-aa14-a38984ed7b5b" class="tnt-byline asset-byline author hasAvatar authorListItem" itemprop="author" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bold; align-self: flex-start;"><div class="avatar-box hidden-print" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 20px; width: 40px; height: 40px; min-width: 40px; min-height: 40px; overflow: hidden; border: 1px solid rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.15); margin-right: 8px; border-radius: 50% !important;"><a href="https://www.therecord.com/users/profile/GORDON%20D%20MONKMAN" class="tnt-user-profile-link user-profile-link card-author media-object" rel="author" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); text-decoration: none; display: block; line-height: 20px; height: 37.647057px;"></a></div></span><div class="authorList list hasAuthorAvatar" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bold; letter-spacing: 0.4px; width: 642.003662px;"><span data-pos="0" data-first="true" data-last="true" id="author-823dc924-a1d0-11ed-a307-33522ff9e3cb-asset-c52a3cc2-40f8-574b-aa14-a38984ed7b5b" class="tnt-byline asset-byline author hasAvatar authorListItem" style="box-sizing: border-box; align-self: flex-start;"><span class="leadin" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 20px;">By </span><span class="authorName" data-avatar="yes" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 20px;"><a href="https://www.therecord.com/users/profile/GORDON%20D%20MONKMAN" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); text-decoration: none; line-height: 20px;">Drew Monkman<span class="authorTitle" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 20px; margin-left: 5px;">Contributing Columnist</span></a></span></span><span class="tsPublication authorListItem" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-right: 5px; font-weight: 500;"> Peterborough Examiner</span><div id="authorBios" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; color: rgb(104, 104, 104); line-height: 20px; font-weight: 400; font-family: var(--font-daily-sans); letter-spacing: normal;"><em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Drew Monkman is a retired Peterborough teacher and co-author of “The Big Book of Nature Activities.” Reach him at <a href="mailto:%20dmonkman1@cogeco.ca" target="_blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(104, 104, 104) !important;">dmonkman1@cogeco.ca</a>. To see past columns, recent nature sightings and his other books, go to <a href="http://drewmonkman.com/">drewmonkman.com</a>.</em></p></div></div></div><div id="tncms-region-article_body_top" class="tncms-region hidden-print" style="box-sizing: border-box;"></div><div id="article-body" data-tier="1" itemprop="articleBody" class="asset-content subscriber-premium" data-lpos="asset|body" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="subscriber-preview" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 16px; font-size: 20px; line-height: 28px; font-family: var(--font-daily-text); overflow-wrap: break-word;">The housing crisis is real and urgent — but so too are the twin emergencies of biodiversity loss and climate change.</p></div><div class="subscriber-preview" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 16px; font-size: 20px; line-height: 28px; font-family: var(--font-daily-text); overflow-wrap: break-word;">Is it truly responsible — or even ethical — to tackle one crisis by worsening the others? In the eyes of Premier Doug Ford, the answer is clearly yes.</p></div><div class="subscriber-only" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 16px; font-size: 20px; line-height: 28px; font-family: var(--font-daily-text); overflow-wrap: break-word;">As part of a broader push to accelerate housing development in the province, the Ontario government has introduced Bill 5, also known as the Protect Ontario by Unleashing our Economy Act, 2025.</p></div><div id="tncms-region-article_instory_top" class="tncms-region hidden-print tsArticleRegion" style="box-sizing: border-box; clear: both;"><div id="tncms-block-3428487" class="tncms-block" style="box-sizing: border-box;"></div></div><div class="subscriber-only" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 16px; font-size: 20px; line-height: 28px; font-family: var(--font-daily-text); overflow-wrap: break-word;">In a nutshell, it undermines crucial environmental protections by moving Ontario away from a science-based approach to protecting species at risk to one that relies on industry and developers’ voluntary and discretionary approaches.</p></div><div class="subscriber-only" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 16px; font-size: 20px; line-height: 28px; font-family: var(--font-daily-text); overflow-wrap: break-word;">The Bill also compounds a series of previous measures taken by the Ontario government in recent years to dismantle protections. It is part of a broader pattern of governance in Ontario that favours private development interests over public good. Ford is clearly hoping that Ontarians will focus only on housing solutions and turn a blind eye to environmental integrity. We can’t let him get away with it.</p></div><div class="subscriber-only" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 16px; font-size: 20px; line-height: 28px; font-family: var(--font-daily-text); overflow-wrap: break-word;">Here’s 10 things to know about this shameful legislation.</p></div><div class="subscriber-only" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><h2 style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: var(--font-daily-text); line-height: 24px; margin-top: 20px; margin-bottom: 10px; font-size: 22px;">1. Goodbye Species at Risk Act</h2></div><div class="subscriber-only" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 16px; font-size: 20px; line-height: 28px; font-family: var(--font-daily-text); overflow-wrap: break-word;">Bill 5 would scrap the Endangered Species Act (ESA) and create “special economic zones” where developers and resource companies would be exempt from provincial regulations. It would also allow the premier and cabinet to take full control over decisions that are usually made by the legislature. The Bill even narrows the definition of habitat to exclude a species’ habitat for feeding or migration. </p></div><div class="subscriber-only" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 16px; font-size: 20px; line-height: 28px; font-family: var(--font-daily-text); overflow-wrap: break-word;">We are in a global biodiversity crisis. Ontario alone is home to over 230 species at risk. They include once common birds like eastern meadowlarks, bobolinks, and barn swallows as well as a wide range of other species like Blanding’s turtles, monarch butterflies and woodland caribou. Many of these species depend on specific habitat types like wetlands and intact forest corridors that are directly affected by the kinds of development facilitated by Bill 5. By opening these landscapes for housing and infrastructure projects, it accelerates the destruction of critical habitats, thereby threatening the survival of species already on the brink. </p></div><div class="subscriber-only" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><h2 style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: var(--font-daily-text); line-height: 24px; margin-top: 20px; margin-bottom: 10px; font-size: 22px;">2. No more recovery strategies</h2></div><div class="subscriber-only" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 16px; font-size: 20px; line-height: 28px; font-family: var(--font-daily-text); overflow-wrap: break-word;">Bill 5 removes the requirement for the government to develop a recovery strategy for species at risk. Also gone are management plans and a review of progress. By no longer tracking species at risk and removing the requirement for recovery strategies, the Ontario government is effectively removing the onus to ensure conservation programs and initiatives result in species’ recovery.</p></div><div class="subscriber-only" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><h2 style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: var(--font-daily-text); line-height: 24px; margin-top: 20px; margin-bottom: 10px; font-size: 22px;">3. Threats to wetlands </h2></div><div class="subscriber-only" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 16px; font-size: 20px; line-height: 28px; font-family: var(--font-daily-text); overflow-wrap: break-word;">Ontario’s wetlands provide essential ecosystem services such as flood mitigation, water purification, and carbon storage. Many wetlands also serve as critical habitats for species at risk. Under Bill 5, the classification system for evaluating wetlands is being revised, which conservationists fear will lead to the downgrading or declassification of many provincially significant wetlands. In practical terms, this means that areas previously protected from development may now be vulnerable.</p><div class="article-pe-boxad-wrapper subscriber-hide" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 24px; margin-bottom: 24px;"></div></div><div class="subscriber-only" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="inline-asset inline-image layout-vertical subscriber-hide tnt-inline-asset tnt-inline-relcontent tnt-inline-image tnt-inline-relation-child tnt-inline-presentation-default tnt-inline-alignment-default tnt-inline-width-default" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 24px; width: 690px; clear: right; margin-right: auto; float: none !important; margin-left: 0px !important;"><figure class="photo layout-vertical hover-expand letterbox-style-default" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; cursor: pointer; position: relative;"><span class="expand hidden-print" data-toggle="modal" data-photo-target=".photo-769b2886-9b73-566b-ae05-1bf2dec31f5f" data-instance="#gallery-items-c52a3cc2-40f8-574b-aa14-a38984ed7b5b-photo-modal" data-target="#photo-carousel-c52a3cc2-40f8-574b-aa14-a38984ed7b5b" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition: 0.25s ease-out; opacity: 0; z-index: 99; position: absolute; top: 10px; left: 10px; background: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.5); color: rgb(255, 255, 255); padding: 5px 10px; border-radius: 5px; font-size: 18px !important;"><svg class="tnt-svg tnt-expand tnt-w-14" aria-hidden="true" data-prefix="fas" data-icon="expand" role="presentation" xmlns="https://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 448 512" data-fa-i2svg=""><path fill="currentColor" d="M0 180V56c0-13.3 10.7-24 24-24h124c6.6 0 12 5.4 12 12v40c0 6.6-5.4 12-12 12H64v84c0 6.6-5.4 12-12 12H12c-6.6 0-12-5.4-12-12zM288 44v40c0 6.6 5.4 12 12 12h84v84c0 6.6 5.4 12 12 12h40c6.6 0 12-5.4 12-12V56c0-13.3-10.7-24-24-24H300c-6.6 0-12 5.4-12 12zm148 276h-40c-6.6 0-12 5.4-12 12v84h-84c-6.6 0-12 5.4-12 12v40c0 6.6 5.4 12 12 12h124c13.3 0 24-10.7 24-24V332c0-6.6-5.4-12-12-12zM160 468v-40c0-6.6-5.4-12-12-12H64v-84c0-6.6-5.4-12-12-12H12c-6.6 0-12 5.4-12 12v124c0 13.3 10.7 24 24 24h124c6.6 0 12-5.4 12-12z"></path></svg></span><div class="image" data-toggle="modal" data-photo-target=".photo-769b2886-9b73-566b-ae05-1bf2dec31f5f" data-instance="#gallery-items-c52a3cc2-40f8-574b-aa14-a38984ed7b5b-photo-modal" data-target="#photo-carousel-c52a3cc2-40f8-574b-aa14-a38984ed7b5b" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.85);"><div itemprop="image" itemscope="" itemtype="https://schema.org/ImageObject" style="box-sizing: border-box;"></div></div></figure></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></body></html>