I voted for the Conservative…

I voted Conservative in the last election. I'm disappointed to see Bill 108 shift a local concern, land development approvals, to a provincial government body. As a conservative I believe in putting decision making authority at the lowest level possible. Bill 108's conversion of the local LPAT to the provincial government body doesn't follow that principle. I believe problem solving is more effective and people can be held more accountable when the decision maker is as close to the problem as possible. In my experience centralizing power in the upper levels of an organization, or government body, leads to poor performance. I've seen nothing in my research to explain why development approval should be handled by a second level of government, further removed from the issues on the ground. Local development is a local concern by definition and the communities of Ontario are very different. Aside from the wasteful duplication of multiple levels of government involved, I don't believe the provincial government LPAT will make good decisions centrally, by members out of touch with local communities. I believe the Conservative party should be pushing back against the trend of centralization and fighting for more local control. That would bring us efficiency and accountability gains. And frankly that's what I expected from this government when I voted for them. In my assessment Bill 108 moves us in the wrong direction.