As Ontario dismantles endangered species protections, here’s how little it will cost to recover them instead
The Ontario government’s Bill 5 will, if passed, have devastating consequences for at-risk species across the province. Under the justification of fast-tracking development, it could quickly start sending wildlife that are already on the brink of extinction right over the edge.
Named the “Protect Ontario by Unleashing our Economy Act,” Bill 5 dismantles essential environmental protections like the Endangered Species Act and removes any requirement for recovery efforts. It also eliminates science-based decision-making, harmfully redefines habitat and gives Cabinet the power to override regulations within designated “Special Economic Zones.”
This puts already vulnerable populations — and populations currently at risk of extinction like the wolverine, piping plover and gray fox — at even greater risk. And it does so even as data shows catastrophic declines in wildlife populations worldwide and here in Canada.
But that trend can be reversed. Research led by WWF-Canada and the University of British Columbia (UBC) now shows what it will take to recover Ontario biodiversity, and what it will cost.
Available as a pre-print while under peer review — with research conducted well before Bill 5 was introduced — our new study looked at the state of biodiversity in Southern Ontario, specifically the Lake Simcoe-Rideau ecoregion, a hotspot for species at risk.
This region is also home to Ottawa, Kingston and Kitchener, and therefore heavily impacted by dense development and habitat degradation and destruction. Species like the Eastern wolf, barn owl and Blanding’s turtle, all currently protected under the Endangered Species Act, face multiple threats.
Our study focused on 133 species in the Lake Simcoe-Rideau ecoregion that are in decline or culturally important to local First Nations. We used a decision-making tool called Priority Threat Management (PTM), developed by Dr. Tara Martin and her team at UBC, which takes costs, benefits and feasibility into consideration. We then predicted likely outcomes for these species under different conservation strategies, policies and funding scenarios through to the end of 2050.
Our results show that, without intervention, 98 per cent of these species are on a path to local extinction. But the hopeful news is that we know where to go to avoid this, and we know how to get there.
The PTM study identified eight conservation strategies — such as habitat protection and restoration, industry-targeted policies and best practices, and government legislation and policy — that, if implemented, could ensure survival of 75 per cent of the species (100 out of 133) in Ontario.
The cost? Just $113 million annually, the equivalent of the Ontario government spending $7 per person per year. To put this number into perspective, it is just 0.0486 per cent of Ontario’s $232.5 billion budget for 2025–2026 announced earlier this month.
Rather than treating wildlife as a roadblock to be removed, Ontario should be investing in nature as an essential pillar of a thriving province. The habitats that these species at risk depend on are also ecosystems that deliver clear benefits to all of us by sequestering carbon, cleaning our air and water, and supporting pollinators so our farmers can grow food.
Protecting Ontario’s economy also means protecting Ontario’s environment. We just need to unleash the political will to do so.
