“Blandings Turtle” by tcmurray74 is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0
The changes would allow “mining and infrastructure projects to move forward faster and with greater certainty.”1 The tool MNR has chosen to deliver that speed is self-registration. A person registers with MNR to inform the ministry of what they intend to do, receives a confirmation, and proceeds. No ministry staff review the site. No conditions are written for that site. There is no oversight and no follow-up. The proposal describes no step at which MNR reviews or refuses a registration.
This is a total retreat from the Ministry of Natural Resources’ mandate and responsibility for “protecting and managing the province’s diverse natural resources to support Ontario’s economic prosperity, environmental sustainability, and quality of life for the people of Ontario.”2 Economic prosperity is one part of that mandate. Section 5 shows that it cannot be delivered by giving up the other two parts.