A controversial bill has been passed in Queen's Park.
Bill 5 went through the third and final reading in Queen's Park on Wednesday with 71 members in favour, and 44 members opposed.
The bill has sparked backlash and protests from several hundred First Nations members who travelled to Queen's Park, as well as other protests across the province - including in Windsor.
Bill 5 would give the government power to suspend provincial and municipal laws for chosen projects in areas deemed to have economic importance - and remove some endangered species protections. The bill is designed to speed up the building of large projects, especially mines, and would exempt select infrastructure projects from full environmental assessments.
Among them is a dormant landfill site on Irish School Road in Dresden that York1 Environmental Solutions is looking to revive as a construction and demolition materials recycling facility - which now no longer needs an environmental assessment completed.
Ontario Liberal leader Bonnie Crombie says this will hit close to home as an environmental assessment was previously promised for the Dresden landfill.
"Now the Dresden dump as a matter of fact has been declared a special zone of economic interest and there won't be an EA [environmental assessment]. They're probably going to proceed with this dump that's been dormant for 30 years. And certainly it has the residents up in arms, and that's the kind of power that is within this legislation, and that's why we're very concerned."
She says this isn't about eliminating red tape for the Ford government - it's about reducing democracy.
"Of course we want to eliminate red tape too, we want things to go faster, we know that Prime Minister Mark Carney has said the same thing, and we completely agree, but you can't bulldoze democratic rights and the duty to consult with our Indigenous partners."
Crombie says the concern is this could now happen anywhere.
"Put a circle around it and rules don't apply, you don't need to get a permit, you don't need to promise that you'll have environmental standards, or respect clean water. They list all rules and regulations in their economic zones of interest. It's very anti democratic."
She adds that there's a lot of uncertainty in the coming months as the Ontario legislature is just days away from going on summer break, and the First Nations have warned they may blockade roads, railways and mines in protest.
Ford did not show up for the final vote to pass the bill into law, neither did PC MPP Steven Pinsonneault, the representative for Lambton-Kent-Middlesex.
Chatham-Kent-Leamington MPP Trevor Jones voted in favour of the bill Wednesday.
-files from AM800's The Shift with Patty Handysides and CTV News