I am writing to express my…

I am writing to express my strong opposition to the proposed consolidation of Ontario’s conservation authorities.

This change would significantly weaken the role of local expertise in protecting our watersheds. Conservation authorities were intentionally created around watershed boundaries because natural systems do not align with municipal borders. Each authority has built decades of region-specific knowledge—about hydrology, local species and habitats, soil conditions, flooding patterns, and community needs. This knowledge cannot be effectively centralized without losing important ecological nuance.

Consolidation risks:
- Reducing the quality and precision of environmental decision-making.
- Creating administrative distance between staff and the communities and ecosystems they manage.
- Slowing down permitting, monitoring, restoration, and enforcement due to the larger geographic scope.
- Undermining collaborative relationships that local conservation authorities have built with municipalities, landowners, and Indigenous communities.

Effective watershed management depends on site-specific understanding, timely response, and ongoing on-the-ground presence. Larger, consolidated authorities would struggle to deliver the same level of service, ultimately putting local ecosystems, flood resilience, and biodiversity at risk.

I urge the government to maintain Ontario’s existing conservation authority structure and invest in strengthening their capacity, rather than weakening the localized expertise that protects our watersheds.