Bill 5 and Our Common Home

 

                                                             Ring Of Fire Region in Ontario

The Parliament of Canada resumed sitting earlier this week with all the pomp and circumstance of the presence of King Charles to read the Throne Speech. Here in Ontario the legislature will soon recess for the summer and the majority Ford Conservatives are determined to push through Bill 5, a wide-ranging and disturbing piece of legislation opposed by environment groups, First Nations, and opposition parties. 

Under the guise of responding to Trump tariffs, a real threat to be sure, the Conservatives want to dispense with environmental regulations, including the endangered species act, to speed up development of mines in the area known as the Ring of Fire in Ontario's North. A number of First Nations are sounding the alarm because while they want prosperity they have treaty rights which would be disregarded on the way to fast-track development. 

While the argument is that the legislation will protect sovereignty and encourage growth its been pointed out that extraction projects are always years, even decades, in the making apart from the supposed "red tape" of regulation. The Ring of Fire is in a remote region of the province and the infrastructure challenges would be immense. 

This seems to be one more example of Doug Ford's obsession with a limited view of the economy that doesn't take into account ecology, both words stemming from a root meaning "home" or "household." His outlook smacks of the 1950s and while he is now mouthing platitudes about consultation with Indigenous peoples he still offers up eye-rolling nonsense about the threat of radical environmentalists protecting grasshoppers. While Ford portrays himself as a Trump-slayer he often sounds like him.

In this week when the Roman Catholic church is acknowledging the tenth anniversary of Laudato Si: On Care for our Common Home, the environmental encyclical of Pope Francis it is imperative to consider what "home" means. This is not about scare-mongering or short-term gain. We must take a Seven Generations outlook for the sake of those who will be affected by our decisions regarding care for Creation and responsible decisions regarding the Climate Crisis.

 As wildfires are raging in other parts of the country. It's time to wake up and smell the smoke.