Many Ontarians hoped and expected that Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty would bring substantial improvements to ecological protection throughout the province once he came into office in 2003. While making a promise to put forward a land protection and development plan for the north of the province was laudable, Premier McGuinty's actions and those of his government are falling far short of sustainable management in the southern Boreal Forest. Under the oversight of his ministers of natural resources, the Boreal Forest ecosystem, which is a major store of fresh water, critical habitat for a wide variety of species, and an important carbon storehouse, has continued to be fragmented and degraded. Premier McGuinty has an important opportunity to act, but time is running out.