Right now, Ontario’s…

Right now, Ontario’s Endangered Species Act — the main provincial law protecting imperiled plants and animals — prohibits anyone from damaging “occupied” habitat, or places where redside dace have lived within the last 20 years. It also offers the same protection to what’s called “recovery” habitat, or places where the minnow could be re-established someday. The goal of the law is not just to slow the decline of species at risk, but to help their numbers rebound.

The proposed changes, which the government posted for public feedback in late December, would peel those protections back. Only habitat occupied by redside dace within the past 10 years would qualify, and “recovery” habitat would be limited to streams and waterways directly adjacent to those where the minnow has lived within the last decade.

The proposal is aimed to aid in development at all costs, even if that cost is destroying Ontario's wildlife.