As a resident of City of…

As a resident of City of Thunder Bay, I am OPPOSED to the Province’s proposed amalgamation of the Lakehead Region Conservation Authority (LRCA) with six other Southern Ontario Conservation Authorities to form the “Huron-Superior Regional Conservation Authority”. I support LRCA’s recommendation that the Lakehead Region Conservation Authority form a stand-alone regional conservation authority as the “Northwestern Ontario Regional Conservation Authority”.

Why?

The ecoregional setting of the Lakehead Regional Conservation Authority differs greatly from southern Ontario and there are substantial differences between the watersheds and geography proposed to be amalgamated. There also is no direct watershed or municipal connection. This change will cause the local focus of conservation authorities to be impacted substantially over time. It will be harmful to local expertise, opportunities, focus, stewardship and outreach.

There is a strong potential for his change to result in governance issues with enlarging to such a large size, resulting in more municipalities at the table involved in the governance, making it much more challenging to balance priorities and interests. This is especially hard with the Lakehead Region being the only conservation authority representing the interests, issues, concerns, pressures and challenges in the northwest region (which are very different from southern region socio-economic considerations).

Reduced funding is an issue. Additional funding towards common service and review standards would address capacity issues and provide greater operational certainty, which is the root cause of delays but not addressed by wholesale merging. Some merging of conservation authorities where municipal and watersheds abut and align makes sense, but not the grouping of completely different regions with different policy considerations, growth strategies, guidance and pressures. It will only create confusion and negatively impact public service standards. Northwest Ontario concerns stand a high chance of being watered down by a southern focus with this amalgamation.

Please adopt the Northwestern Ontario Regional Conservation Authority recommendation. It is hugely important for the service, trust and understanding of residents and businesses in the northwest region.