© Lora Denis
I received a call yesterday from an elderly gentleman living near Sault Ste. Marie. A life-long resident of northern Ontario and former hunter and prospector, he called to express his disapproval of Ontario’s proposal to address the decline of moose populations by killing more wolves and coyotes.
Barn swallow © GrrlScientist CC BY 2.0
When governments pass laws that set out explicit requirements and timelines for action to be taken, you would expect that they’d be prepared to obey the law. Not so with Canada’s Species at Risk Act (SARA). Under SARA, the federal government must decide whether to list a species within nine months of receiving its designation ...
Carpenter bee on blossom © John Vetterli
For breakfast this morning, I had the pleasure of attending a science briefing on neonicotinoid insecticides (neonics) presented by Dr. Jean-Marc Bonmatin, vice-chair of the international Task Force on Systemic Pesticides. Hosted by the David Suzuki Foundation at Queens Park, the breakfast event was sponsored by MPPs Marie-France Lalonde and Peter Tabuns, and attended by ...
American bumblebee © Thom Wilson
Half of the bumblebee species in eastern North America are in decline. This trend holds true in southern Ontario, where seven of the 14 bumblebee species found in surveys from 1971 – 1973 were found to be either absent or in decline when surveyed 30 years later. Some of these, like the rusty-patched, the gypsy ...
Woodland caribou © Paul Tessier
In 2007, to much acclaim, the Endangered Species Act (ESA) was passed with support from members of all parties. Just six years later, the Liberals are quietly trying to gut the act, the NDP are muzzled by one or two northern members seeking exemptions for forestry, and the Progressive Conservatives are raging on about how ...
Laurel Creek Conservation Area © Carl Hiebert / Grand River Conservation Authority