Environmental groups launch legal challenge against Ontario’s Special Economic Zones
Four organizations, represented by Ecojustice, are launching a legal challenge against Ontario’s Special Economic Zones Act.
Wildlands League, Environmental Defence Canada, Friends of the Earth Canada and Democracy Watch say that the Act is “an alarming bypassing of Ontario’s democratic system” in which “the government can pick winners, draw a boundary on a map, and decide that inside it, the rules no longer apply.”
The Special Economic Zones Act is part of a larger bill focused on developing Ontario’s economy. It allows the Lieutenant Governor in Council to “make regulations exempting a trusted proponent or designed project from requirements under an Act, regulation or other instrument under an Act, including by-laws of a municipality or local board […].”
The organizations are particularly concerned about environmental harm that might proliferate due to weak oversight. Previously, Indigenous communities have also raised concerns about the proposed bill’s overreach and the risk that they might not be adequately consulted about major infrastructure projects.
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