I’m writing to oppose the…

I’m writing to oppose the proposed new boundaries for conservation authority consolidation. The plan feels disconnected from how Ontario’s watersheds actually function and seems driven more by administrative convenience than environmental protection.

Conservation authorities were intentionally built around watershed boundaries for a reason. Water, hazards, and ecosystems do not follow municipal lines. Redrawing boundaries into very large regional blocks breaks that core principle and risks creating organizations that are too big and too distant to understand the places they are meant to protect.

Local knowledge is essential. Communities rely on people who know the land, the flood-prone areas, the erosion risks, the wetlands under pressure, and the ways climate change is already reshaping local landscapes. When everything is centralized, that connection to place is lost. Decisions become generic and out of touch because they are being made by people responsible for far too much territory.

This proposal also comes at a time when environmental oversight should be strengthened, not weakened. We are facing more severe storms, more flooding, more invasive species, and more development pressure than ever before. Reducing the local presence of conservation authorities undermines our ability to respond quickly and effectively when issues arise.

Larger organizations also tend to become less transparent and less accessible. Communities deserve conservation authorities that are rooted in place, responsive to local concerns, and knowledgeable about the land, not oversized administrative bodies stretched thin across huge regions.

For these reasons, I strongly oppose the proposed boundaries and urge the province to maintain and strengthen the watershed-based model instead of dismantling it.

Thank you for considering my comments.