Bill 5, Protect Ontario by Unleashing our Economy Act, 2025 represents a sweeping and dangerous shift in how decisions are made in Ontario. If passed, it would give the Premier and Cabinet extraordinary powers to override provincial and municipal laws, sidestep environmental protections, and ignore the constitutional duty to consult Indigenous communities. This bill threatens democratic accountability, weakens environmental safeguards, and puts corporate interests ahead of community voices and Indigenous rights.
To the Legislative Assembly of Ontario:
WHEREAS the Endangered Species Act, 2007 (ESA) has been instrumental in protecting Ontario's biodiversity by providing science-based assessments, automatic species listings, and comprehensive habitat protections; and
WHEREAS Bill 5 proposes to repeal the ESA and replace it with the Species Conservation Act, 2025 (SCA), which introduces discretionary species listings, narrows habitat definitions, and removes mandatory recovery strategies, thereby weakening protections for at-risk species; and
WHEREAS this legislation does not provide a clear or consistent process to uphold the duty to consult Indigenous communities, leaving First Nations communities without meaningful participation and trample Indigenous rights to their ancestral land; and
WHEREAS the proposed legislation concentrates excessive decision-making power in the hands of a single minister, reducing transparency and accountability in species protection decisions; and
WHEREAS we acknowledge the importance of supporting Ontario's economy during turbulent times, such efforts must not come at the irreversible cost of our most vulnerable wildlife and natural ecosystems;
WE, THE UNDERSIGNED, PETITION THE LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF ONTARIO AS FOLLOWS:
That the Government of Ontario withdraw Bill 5, maintain the Endangered Species Act, 2007, while ensuring economic growth does not come at the expense of biodiversity and ecological integrity.