Is a minnow going to do to the Hwy 413 plans what the Jefferson salamander did to the Nelson quarry?

By Pepper Parr

August  3rd, 2024

BURLINGTON, ON

Hope does spring eternal – and the folks that want to see the proposed highway 413 development stopped in its tracks appear to take some comfort from the Recovery Strategy and Action Plan which came into force on Monday, identifies many streams and tributaries within three river watersheds along the proposed Highway 413 route as Critical Habitat that must be protected for the species’ survival.

Although Ontario’s government has been able to gut or circumvent many of the provincial environmental, public safety and wildlife protections that would ordinarily prohibit the 413, the text of Canada’s constitution puts protecting fish species and their habitat squarely within federal jurisdiction.

The Redside Dace – a small, colourful and endangered minnow. Gazette readers will recall the role the Jefferson salamander played in preventing the renewal of a permit for the Nelson quarry.

This new Recovery Strategy and its official recognition of the critical redside dace habitat along the proposed highway’s route will further enable Environment and Climate Change Minister Steven Guilbeault to designate a federal impact assessment of Highway 413.

Fortunately, this year’s federal budget restored the minister’s power to designate impact assessments for projects with potential impacts that fall clearly within federal jurisdiction.

Canada’s constitution explicitly gives the federal government jurisdiction regarding “inland” fish, so the recognition of waterways along the Highway 413’s impact makes the case for a federal assessment designation unassailable.

Separately, recognition of these streams as Critical Habitat means that construction companies – and the provincial government itself – are prohibited from doing anything directly to them that would destroy any of their value as habitat for the species. That would require permission from the federal government. That means that it will be up to the federal government, which has presented itself as a defender of the environment, to decide whether the Highway 413 proposal can proceed.

Related news story:

Jefferson salamander put a halt to the renewal of a quarry permit