Can new bill help city fight alien invaders?
Invasive bugs and plants crowding out native species

Mississauga News
March 4, 2014
By Chris Clay

City of Mississauga officials hope a new provincial law before the Ontario legislature will help them fight the invasive bugs and plants destroying the area's native flora and fauna.

Bill 167, also known as the Invasive Species Act, had its first reading last Wednesday. If passed, the bill would give the province tools to ban possessing and transporting certain invasive species, allow Queen's Park to intervene earlier in the process, provide rapid response to outbreaks and ensure compliance through modernized inspection and enforcement.

The municipality is currently dealing with a plague of invasive pests:

• Emerald ash borers: The City has a 10-year, $51 million plan to fight an outbreak in municipal ash trees: Adult borers lay eggs in bark crevices in early summer, which hatch after a few weeks. The larvae then chew the outer bark and feed on the inner bark, creating tunnels that impact the flow of water and nutrients throughout the trunk. Infestation can kill a tree within months.

• Asian long-horned beetles: Found in Malton in August, attacks deciduous trees, particularly maple. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency has created a quarantine zone to restrict the movement of trees, plants and wood outside of the 20-sq.-km. zone to stop the spread of the insect throughout Mississauga and the province.

• Giant hogweed: Contains a toxic sap that cause can burn skin and cause blindness

• Common buckthorn: Dense growth blocks sunlight to other plants, attracts aphids and alters chemical levels in soil, killing native plants

Gavin Longmuir, the City's manager of urban forestry, said the Act would help municipalities fighting invasive species by helping them create regulated areas to contain pests.

"It's going to help us and enhance the programs we have," said Longmuir. "We certainly are paying close attention (to it)."

Minister of Natural Resources David Orazietti said the act, if passed, would make Ontario a "national leader in invasive species prevention and management.

"This proposed legislation would be a critical tool in our fight against the growing threat of invasive species and for addressing the ecological and economic threats that invasive species pose to our province," said Orazietti.

Invasive species can cost a fortune to deal with — it's estimated Ontario spends  $75 to $91 million each year to deal with zebra mussels alone.

Longmuir noted the City partners with the CFIA, Ministry of Natural Resources and the Ontario Invasive Plant Council on invasive species management. It also is a member of a Region of Peel working group dedicated to the issue.

BILL 167 — The Invasive Species Act

Bill 167, also known as the Invasive Species Act, would give the province additional tools in the fight against invasive species, including:

• A ban on bringing 'significant threat' invasive species into Ontario or causing it to be brought into the province.

• A ban on bringing anything classified a 'moderate threat' invasive species into provincial parks or conservation reserves.

• Power to the Minister of Natural Resources to issue orders, implement response measures and appoint inspectors to prevent the spread of the pest and to control and eradicate it in a part of Ontario or all of the province.

• Power to the Lieutenant Governor of Ontario to designate an area restricted and limit the movement of anything that could spread the species out of the area.

• Fines and possible jail times for those who violate orders. Fines range from $1 million to $2 million for corporations and $250,000 to $500,000 for individuals.