The James Bay lowlands is one of the last intact ecosystems on Earth and thus should be preserved in its entirety. This vast area of rivers, lakes and forest is Ontario’s Serengeti, not Ontario’s tar sands. The lowlands are a boreal paradise — a world-class wilderness in our own back yard. It is an ecological wonder as yet virtually untouched by humans, where wolves, bear, caribou, sturgeon, eagle
s and a vast array of other species still live in dynamic balance. These mines promise only low-level and temporary jobs to aboriginal people, as the Attawapiskat Cree found out the hard way after they welcomed the De Beer’s diamond mine. By saying no to the proposed mines, the world price of chromium would rise slightly, providing an incentive for industry to use existing supplies more efficiently and to develop alternatives to this highly toxic metal (as exposed by the Erin Brockovitch story). The construction of the mines plus the roads, rail beds, pipelines and power lines would require ongoing de-watering of huge areas of peat bog releasing massive amounts of methane — a green house gas 20 times more potent than CO2. Add to this water contamination and the extirpation of threatened species like the boreal caribou, and we have an ecological disaster in the making. The Ontario Liberals under Kathleen Wynne have already shown their colours with regard to our natural heritage by exempting forestry and mining companies from compliance to the Endangered Species Act. Since it was these same Liberals, only under Dalton McGuinty, who passed this legislation in the first place, it begs the question whether the Liberals ever intended to to implement it. Allowing development in Ontario’s last pristine wilderness is ecologically irresponsible and contemptuous of future generations. Doing so will demonstrate that the Wynne government is like any other government, quick to trade short term gain for long term pain.
