Endangered species act endangers forest industry; Forest communities, industry line up to oppose Endangered Species Act.

• Author: Ross, Ian
• Position: FORESTRY

When Queen's Park first unveiled the Endangered Species Act (ESA) in 2006, Anne Krassilowsky's first reaction was: "One more way to shut down the North and take industry out."

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You'd be hard-pressed to convince the mayor of Dryden otherwise these days. When she thinks about whether the woodlands caribou needs protecting, she has a local homeowner calling up to complain about deer, wolves, black bears and other abundant wildlife roaming through neighbourhoods and chowing down in backyard gardens.

"We have more eagles than people here."

Many in the northwest fear environmental groups from southern Ontario now have the ear of the Ministry of Natural Resources. The end game is to turn the entire Crown forests of the North into one huge wildlife preserve.

What else, they say, would be behind the unexpected new permitting system under the ESA? The new regulations, posted on the province's Environmental Bill of Rights website in May, immediately sparked a flurry of angry protests from industry and regional groups. The Act went into effect June 30.

Krassilowsky's city of 8,200 has built its economy around forestry since the first World War. Domtar's pulp and paper operation dominates the community's skyline and employs more than 500.

The local business fall-out from bad market conditions and last year's layoff of 200 mill workers was felt by woodland contractors, hotel and restaurant owners, clothing shops and automobile dealerships. Logging equipment and heavy trucks are up for sale and there's empty storefronts in the downtown.

Trades people are commuting to jobs in Alberta. Families are left behind.

Krassilowsky, who serves on the region's Common Voice action group and the Ontario Forestry Coalition (OFC), says the ESA is an other example of Queen's Park's one-size-fits-all policymaking. "It's sending the message that we will close down Northern Ontario."

The Ontario Forest Industries Association (OFIA) calls it "the biggest single challenge to the industry's viability."

It resulted in an industry barnstorming tour across the region in June with power point presentations before packed community halls telling of the possible dire consequences of the act.

Community and forestry leaders see the new legislation as introducing a costly permitting system that holds industry to an impossible standard. They say wording in the act leaves them and the province open to court challenges by environmental groups that could shutdown...