{"id":100117,"date":"2025-12-08T13:37:33","date_gmt":"2025-12-08T18:37:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/?p=100117"},"modified":"2025-12-08T13:37:33","modified_gmt":"2025-12-08T18:37:33","slug":"ontarios-bill-5-erodes-good-governance-in-the-province","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2025\/12\/08\/ontarios-bill-5-erodes-good-governance-in-the-province\/","title":{"rendered":"Ontario\u2019s Bill 5 erodes good governance in the province"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Kristen Lowitt \u00a0Associate Professor\u00a0 Ontario passed Bill 5, the Protect Ontario by Unleashing Our Economy Act, in June 2025. The omnibus bill amended environmental laws and proposes \u201cspecial economic zones\u201d where the government can decide what laws will or won\u2019t apply. The bill eliminates key environmental protections and grants the provincial government sweeping powers to fast-track development with little to no oversight. This risks undermining the rights of Indigenous communities, the public and nature. As stated by Michel Koostachin, founder of the Indigenous grassroots group the Friends of the Attawapiskat River: \u201cThe government is using the \u2018tariff war\u2019 as an excuse for greed, to advance personal and private gain.\u201d Bill 5 is an affront to Indigenous rights and natural law because it authorizes the government to potentially cause irreparable… <\/p>\n

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By Kristen Lowitt \u00a0Associate Professor\u00a0 Ontario passed Bill 5, the Protect Ontario by Unleashing Our Economy Act, in June 2025. The omnibus bill amended environmental laws and proposes \u201cspecial economic zones\u201d where the government can decide what laws will or won\u2019t apply. The bill eliminates key environmental protections and grants the provincial government sweeping powers to fast-track development with little to no oversight. This risks undermining the rights of Indigenous communities, the public and nature. As stated by Michel Koostachin, founder of the Indigenous grassroots group the Friends of the Attawapiskat River: \u201cThe government is using the \u2018tariff war\u2019 as an excuse for greed, to advance personal and private gain.\u201d Bill 5 is an affront to Indigenous rights and natural law because it authorizes the government to potentially cause irreparable... <\/p>\n

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Log in here<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"author":101363,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-100117","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-national-news","category-ticker","pmpro-level-required","pmpro-level-3","pmpro-level-2","pmpro-level-5","pmpro-level-4","pmpro-level-6","pmpro-level-7","pmpro-no-access"],"yoast_head":"\nOntario\u2019s Bill 5 erodes good governance in the province - The Turtle Island News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2025\/12\/08\/ontarios-bill-5-erodes-good-governance-in-the-province\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Ontario\u2019s Bill 5 erodes good governance in the province - The Turtle Island News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Kristen Lowitt \u00a0Associate Professor\u00a0 Ontario passed Bill 5, the Protect Ontario by Unleashing Our Economy Act, in June 2025. The omnibus bill amended environmental laws and proposes \u201cspecial economic zones\u201d where the government can decide what laws will or won\u2019t apply. The bill eliminates key environmental protections and grants the provincial government sweeping powers to fast-track development with little to no oversight. This risks undermining the rights of Indigenous communities, the public and nature. As stated by Michel Koostachin, founder of the Indigenous grassroots group the Friends of the Attawapiskat River: \u201cThe government is using the \u2018tariff war\u2019 as an excuse for greed, to advance personal and private gain.\u201d Bill 5 is an affront to Indigenous rights and natural law because it authorizes the government to potentially cause irreparable\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2025\/12\/08\/ontarios-bill-5-erodes-good-governance-in-the-province\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Turtle Island News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/TurtleIslandNews\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-12-08T18:37:33+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/facebooklogo.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"725\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"483\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Lynda Powless\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@newsattheturtle\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@newsattheturtle\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Lynda Powless\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2025\\\/12\\\/08\\\/ontarios-bill-5-erodes-good-governance-in-the-province\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2025\\\/12\\\/08\\\/ontarios-bill-5-erodes-good-governance-in-the-province\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Lynda Powless\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/7b188fd7503577895ef8b306988cd458\"},\"headline\":\"Ontario\u2019s Bill 5 erodes good governance in the province\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-12-08T18:37:33+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2025\\\/12\\\/08\\\/ontarios-bill-5-erodes-good-governance-in-the-province\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":801,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"National News\",\"ticker\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-CA\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2025\\\/12\\\/08\\\/ontarios-bill-5-erodes-good-governance-in-the-province\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2025\\\/12\\\/08\\\/ontarios-bill-5-erodes-good-governance-in-the-province\\\/\",\"name\":\"Ontario\u2019s Bill 5 erodes good governance in the province - 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