I am a resident of Halton…

I am a resident of Halton for some 66 years. Since the 70's there has been an increasing government influence over private land owners especially in rural and semi rural areas. Many incidents have been brought to my attention regarding practices and policy of Conservation authorities which in my opinion were an undue influence on land owners. One example was the legal force of the conservation authority whereby authority legal costs exceeded $ 200,000 as of July 2018 and have been climbing since. How many citizens can defend against such willingness to spend by the conservation authority? In this case one is trying. Having attended a court case for this case in fall of 2018 the lawyer for the authority admitted there was no apparent environmental damage by the land owner. Also the lawyer could not show that the area of concern was in their mapping. Most unfortunately the justice of the peace was swayed by the authority that it just might some day matter maybe. More amazing that lawyer pressed to place lien on the property and the court decided that the owner should do so. The conservation lawyer after court proceeded to place lien himself even though that contradicted the court. Further the case is under appeal. So why is so much public money being spent? This may be to demonstrate the power of the authority over private lands and create legal grounds to extend their power. This case is in my opinion a travesty. Conservation authority are to cooperate with private land owners not just bully them. I would like to make another point. There are lands in Ontario which by root of title are not subject to the rule of the conservation authority. One example is of land which the crown of the day gave title to person of interest to the crown by way of a Crown Grant within which various rights were provided. Some gave the right to everything under on or above the ground, ie minerals, flora, fauna, water, etc. Such pre - confederation crown grants were brought into the confederation of Canada. Our government, including ministry of natural resources, are the keepers of these original crown grants. Therefore government, including Conservation Authorities, should be required to do due diligence to determine whether they have the right to influence the private landowner. Furthermore, if the actions of the Conservation authority reduce the private landowner's abilities on their land then compensation to the land owner should be made. In summary I continue to hear from many landowners about so much concern over the influence of Conservation authorities and the difficulty in dealing with them as well as the expense.