Provincial comparison:  Ontario vs. Newfoundland and Labrador

​To compare Newfoundland and Labrador and Ontario, their invasive species awareness websites will be used, as well as information on the government websites concerning invasive species.  The Newfoundland and Labrador Invasive Species council and ​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​Ontario’s Invading Species Awareness Program both have similar goals in spreading awareness to the public about the risks of alien invasive species.  Both websites offer information about how to stop the spread of invasive species, the impacts of the invaders, and they give us examples of invasive species within their respective provinces.  Like mentioned earlier, both provinces provide examples of options for planting native wildlife instead of alien invasive ornamental flowers.  The websites also offer methods of controlling certain invasive alien species.  Physical, chemical, biological or integrated pest management are the options laid out by the Ontario government, (10).  The Newfoundland and Labrador website doesn’t offer as broad of an explanation for management options for controlling invasive species, but it does offer examples of management techniques available for certain species including Japanese knotweed, tansy ragwort, goutweed, foxglove, black knapweed, and bindweed, (6).​  The disposal of the alien invasive species is also an issue.  Both websites clearly state that invaders must not be placed in the compost, but to contact the municipality for disposal (Ontario) or to dispose of the plants through the regular garbage (Newfoundland and Labrador), (6).   

Overall, Ontario does a better job at more clearly organizing their websites concerning invasive alien species.  They organize species into categories and offer more information on each of the identified invasive alien species in the province, where Newfoundland and Labrador only mentions certain species.​  Ontario also has more up to date information concerning invasive species in the province, while the documents on the government of Newfoundland and Labrador website seemed outdated.  The funding cuts to Canada's Invasive Alien Species Partnership Program has left the Newfoundland and Labrador council without funding to adequately address the issues in the province and no new projects have been started within the last year or so (5).

​​​Ontario is better able to focus on issues surrounding alien invasive species simply because they have more resources to put towards these initiatives than Newfoundland and Labrador, especially since the funding cuts for the Canada's Invasive Alien Species Partnership Program.​​

​The Exotic and Invasive Alien Species Workshop held in Newfoundland back in 2008 was a step forward in organizing tasks between government departments and pointing out areas where more research was needed, (11).  One of the main hurdles that the workshop mentioned was the availability of resources, including people, in order to better address the problems associated with exotic and invasive species in the province,(11).  That being said, Newfoundland is working toward addressing issues with invasions in the province, but more resources are needed to more efficiently deal with the matters.