What if the tariffs are an excuse for governments to do away with pesky environmental restrictions they always wanted to get rid of anyway?

Today: Ontario. Only Bill 5 can cool Ford’s desire -Oh, oh, oh, the Ring of fire

Update: Bill 5 – Protect Ontario by Unleashing our Economy Act, 2025 passed June 8. AFN Ontario Regional Chief Abram Benedict, says chiefs across the province reject the bill outright. The Chiefs of Ontario have invited Ford to their annual assembly at Hiawatha First Nation, June 17–19, as a chance to begin direct dialogue — but haven’t received a response.

In January 2025, Doug Ford walked into a First Ministers' meeting in Ottawa wearing a black trucker cap with bold white letters: “Canada Is Not for Sale.” The moment became the headline. The hat— and I’ll plug that hat because I love that hat - was created by Ottawa designers Liam Mooney and Emma Cochrane—became a viral hit. Tens of thousands were sold.

With Donald Trump threatening tariffs and floating the idea of annexing Canada as the 51st state, Ford became a folk hero for a moment . He stared down Trump, threatened to turn the lights off on Americans, showing that when you push polite Canadians around we can be bad ass.

But the thing about a crisis is that it opens doors.

Doug Ford’s been stomping around Queen’s Park since 2018, grumbling about how long it takes to get a mine off the ground in Ontario. Fifteen years? And he’s not alone. It drives business crazy too.

And nothing gets him going like the Ring of Fire: a mineral-rich stretch of northern wilderness that Ford’s been eyeing like the last slice of bannock at a Treaty feast.

I’m not telling tales outta school here — Ford has no problem saying the quiet thing aloud. He never has. He wants his baby built.

Behind the nationalist branding thought is something more calculated: a standing wish to get things done faster by removing regulatory barriers, and pushing development into contested lands. The latest wave of U.S. tariffs—this time targeting Canadian natural gas and steel—gave Ford even more justification.

If the economy is going to crack under pressure, if jobs are on the line - let’s get’er done, say supporters of Bill 5.

But this week is expected to be dominated by protests and rallies at Queen’s Park against Bill 5. And here’s why.

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What Bill 5 Does

Enter Bill 5, the Protect Ontario by Unleashing Our Economy Act. Introduced in March, proposes the creation of Special Economic Zones where the provincial cabinet can override environmental regulations, municipal planning laws, and consultation requirements to fast-track major infrastructure and resource projects.

These zones—designed to facilitate mining, highways, and energy corridors—remove key legal protections and concentrate authority in the hands of ministers.

The bill would also replace Ontario’s Endangered Species Act with a weaker framework, transferring final decision-making from scientific panels to cabinet. In practical terms, it means species, ecosystems, and watersheds could be sacrificed by political order—without the need for independent review or community input.

The Ford government has framed this as economic self-defense in a volatile global economy. But critics say it’s not protectionism—it’s deregulation with a bulldozer.

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But What happens if mother earth exhales?

The land where the government wants to build roads to extract precious minerals from the Ring of Fire—it soaks, remembers, and holds its breath.

This is peatland country: dense, waterlogged soil laid down over 10,000 years, one quiet layer at a time.

Mother Earth is working here—storing more than 35 billion tonnes of carbon in her ancient skin, cooling the climate with every soggy breath. Dr. Lorna Harris, a peatland ecologist who’s been studying these wetlands from the Scottish Highlands to the Hudson Bay Lowlands, calls them “one of the best carbon capture and storage systems we have.” She’s measured peat as deep as five metres—sometimes deeper. And all of it—carbon, water, memory—is held in place by the stillness of the bog.

But disturb that stillness—build a road, sink a mine, drain the wetlands—and Mother Earth exhales.

And when she exhales, we burn.

Harris warns that disturbing these peatlands could release carbon stored over millennia in a matter of years—billions of tonnes of it—accelerating the climate crisis we’re already failing to slow. It’s not just carbon, either. The land dries. Fires come faster. Water runs dirtier. The balance is delicate, and once it’s broken, it’s near impossible to restore.

The Ontario government sees it differently. In its draft environmental assessments, it says that with proper planning and mitigation, roads through these lands can be built responsibly. But Harris isn’t so sure. The science, she says, doesn’t support the assumption that we can simply manage our way around the damage

Did we learn nothing about regulatory shortcuts from Walkerton?

If Bill 5 feels familiar, that’s because it is. Ontario’s political history is full of “resource rushes”—each one cast as a path to prosperity, each one leaving behind scars.

For those who remember former Ontario Premier Mike Harris’s “Common Sense Revolution,” the echoes are unmistakable. Harris gutted Ontario’s environmental enforcement in the 1990s, cutting staff and budgets under the banner of efficiency.

The result?

In 2000, the town of Walkerton, Ontario, experienced a catastrophic E. coli outbreak in its drinking water system. Seven people died. More than 2,000 fell seriously ill.

The root cause? Yes — local operator negligence, and failed oversight were to blame - but so too were cuts to environmental protection and water testing introduced under Premier Mike Harris’s government in the 1990s. These cuts were part of a broader push to “reduce red tape” and shrink the public sector—language that closely mirrors the Ford government’s current messaging around Bill 5.

After Walkerton, a judicial inquiry led by Justice Dennis O’Connor explicitly linked the tragedy to these deregulation policies. The O’Connor Report concluded that the system failed because of both cutbacks and loss of regulatory checks.

(see also: Canadian Environmental Law Association: 20 Years After the Walkerton Inquiry PubMed: Factors that led to the Walkerton traged and Conservation Ontario: Walkerton Inquiry and Source Water Protection)

Bill 5 is resurrecting Idle No More

Bill 5 is also causing déjà vu for First Nations leaders. Back in 2012, Stephen Harper’s Conservatives passed the omnibus C-45 The Jobs and Growth Act, that gutted environmental protections for waterways (Justin Trudeau’s Liberals later reinstated them).

The bills set off the cross-Canada Idle No More blockades, round dance flash mobs and a hunger strike by, then Attawapiskat Chief Theresa Spence. It became the largest grassroots protest movement ever seen in Canada. At its heart it was a protest about being erassed from decisions impacting land and water.

Doug Ford’s Bill 5 isn’t identical, but the concern is the same. A sweeping omnibus bill. Critical environmental protections quietly dismantled. Consultation promised after the fact. The power to greenlight development moved out of scientific process, squarely into political hands.

“Ontario is trying to legislate us out of the conversation (and) that won’t work,” said Linda Debassige, grand council chief of Anshinabek Nation in Ontario at a recent press conference about Bill 5.

“I caution the government should this bill proceed in its current form, we will be idle no more,” she said.

His Precious: The Ring of Fire, and one window to rule it all

The Ring of Fire, in particular, has been a site of competing visions since chromite was discovered there in the early 2000s. Governments saw billions in revenue. Industry saw opportunity.

Nine First Nations are impacted by the proposed development of the Ring of Fire, three of whom—Marten Falls, Webequie, and Aroland—have signed deals with the province. Others in the area have not and are either in negotiations or remain opposed to development.

Agreements that have been signed took more than a decade to negotiate.

As part of his promises to invest in critical minerals, the prime minister has said that he would work “very closely” with the Ontario government to “rapidly” develop the Ring of Fire.

Premiers, including Ford, have already proposed working together with Carney on a “one window” system to simplify approvals on energy projects. Right now, both the province and the federal government each do separate reviews.

Premiers want to reduce that to a single review, which they prefer to be led by provinces. Some provinces have already passed legislation in anticipation of the one-window process.

The Summer Roadshow

Facing mounting backlash, the Ford government announced that Premier Ford, Minister Greg Rickford, and Minister Stephen Lecce would travel north over the summer to meet with First Nations and “explain” the bill. But Rickford made one thing clear: “We’re looking forward to passing the bill later this week.”

To many Indigenous leaders, that summed it up.

“This isn’t consultation,” said Regional Chief Glen Hare. “It’s damage control.” Some communities have declined to attend the meetings altogether. Others are preparing court challenges. A few have started talking, quietly but seriously, about blockades.

“We’ve tried talking,” one northern chief said. “Now we’re being told—again—what’s good for us.”

What Not-for-Sale Hat doesn’t tell you

Doug Ford hasn’t been seen wearing his “Canada Is Not for Sale” hat since that First Ministers' meeting in January. It did its job: sell a message, frame a moment, signal resistance. But five months later, as Bill 5 nears final passage, the absence of the hat feels equally symbolic.

If that hat meant to declare that this land belongs to Ontarians—that it wouldn’t be bargained away—then Bill 5 asks a harder question: who counts as Ontario?

Because the land is being carved up. Laws are being stripped. Rights are being overridden. Consultation is being rebranded as outreach, long after the decisions are made.

So - it’s a metaphor perhaps. Ford has stopped wearing the hat.

And the land? It actually is for sale. And when Bill 5 passes, for sale more cheaply than ever.

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The who’s who of Bill 5

The Opposition: Sol Mamakwa

Sol Mamakwa, MPP for Kiiwetinoong, isn’t just speaking as a legislator. He’s from Kingfisher Lake First Nation, and he’s seen what happens when governments prioritize speed over consent. “This bill should be called ‘Ontario First, First Nations Last,’ because we are just an afterthought,” he told the legislature. Mamakwa supports economic opportunities for the North—but not at the expense of sovereignty, safety, or dignity. “We’re not against development,” he said. “But we won’t be erased from the process.” SNNewsWatch.com Today (Monday June 2) Mamakwa was removed from the Ontario legislature for accusing the government of speaking “untruths” to First Nations about Bill 5.

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The Ecologist: Anne Bell

Anne Bell, director of conservation at Ontario Nature, has spent her career defending biodiversity. She calls Bill 5 “a scorched-earth policy,” pointing to the government’s plan to gut the Endangered Species Act and sideline scientific review. “It allows politicians to overrule ecology,” she said. “And when that happens, it’s not just animals that suffer—it’s entire ecosystems, and the people who rely on them.”

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The Watchdog: Laura Bowman

Environmental lawyer Laura Bowman, with Ecojustice, is focused on what the bill does to public accountability. “It limits the ability of courts to review cabinet decisions in these zones,” she said. “That’s more than regulatory reform. That’s a democratic backslide.” She notes that under Bill 5, if something goes wrong—if land is poisoned or drinking water is compromised—there may be no legal recourse.

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Defender: Grand Chief Alvin Fiddler

For Grand Chief Alvin Fiddler of Nishnawbe Aski Nation, the stakes are immediate. “Bill 5 is a direct attack on our Nations, our people, our treaties, and our future generations,” he said at a press conference at Queen’s Park, surrounded by fellow Treaty 9 leaders. The bill affects territories where his communities live, hunt, and draw their water. And with cabinet now able to greenlight projects without full consultation, Fiddler warns that trust—already fragile—is being shattered. Northern Ontario Business

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The Mayor: Andrea Horwath

In Hamilton, Mayor Andrea Horwath is warning that Bill 5 undermines local democracy. “It lets the province bulldoze over municipal decisions,” she said. “Housing, transit, environmental planning—none of it is safe if Queen’s Park decides a project matters more.” Horwath, a former NDP leader, sees the bill as part of a larger pattern: the centralization of power under Ford’s government, at the expense of communities and accountability.

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Coming tomorrow:

Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston wasn’t in office when the province banned fracking in 2014—but the Progressive Conservatives have opposed the moratorium from the start. The ban followed an exhaustive independent review led by geologist Dr. David Wheeler, which concluded that Nova Scotia was not ready. The report flagged serious concerns: the province lacked baseline groundwater data, regulatory systems were inadequate, and the risks of contamination, seismic activity, and methane leakage were too great. Critically, the review emphasized that no fracking should proceed without full “social license”—especially from Mi’kmaq communities whose treaty rights must be upheld. Now, a decade later, Houston’s government is waving around Trump’s tariff threats as a justification to dust off a controversial industry. But the science hasn’t changed—and neither has the opposition.