| Opportunity to provide comments.
The Protect Ontario by Unleashing our Economy Act, 2025 is proposing to make immediate amendments to the ESA and would later repeal the ESA and enact the new Species Conservation Act, 2025 (SCA). The proposed changes would:
- shift nearly all species-related authorizations to a registration-first approach – a process already successfully used for many species and other environmental authorizations
- establish a framework for setting clear expectations and rules for proponents to follow, ones that are focused on those activities that are most likely to have a direct negative impact on species
- establish a new Species Conservation Program to support voluntary initiatives like habitat restoration that protect and conserve species
- strengthen the ability to enforce species protection laws to ensure that all proponents comply with the rules and expectations of this new approach
The federal Species at Risk Act (SARA) protections include those for extirpated, endangered and threatened aquatic species and migratory birds, along with their residences and critical habitats, on non-federal lands. Under the provisions of the current ESA, anyone carrying out an activity impacting these species on non-federal lands has been required to obtain authorizations under both federal and provincial species at risk legislation. To remove this duplication, species protections in the proposed Species Conservation Act, 2025, would not apply to these SARA protected aquatic species and migratory birds, allowing for projects to move forward in a more efficient and cost-effective way.
Over the next several months, the Government will work in consultation with the public and Indigenous communities and organizations to develop supporting regulations, which will come into force early next year. As new regulations are developed, they will be posted on the Environmental Registry of Ontario.
To review the full list of current proposed changes and their potential impacts, and to provide your feedback, please click the button below. |
