I agree with HCA’s…

I agree with HCA’s submission to the ERO. I am concerned about losing local decision-making and I support keeping conservation decisions rooted in our community. The land is intimately connected to the people who live on it. I am connected to the HCA in a ways that someone from Niagara are not. Each place is unique and deserves a unique lens - best equipped by those who live in its boundary. The "HCA plays a critical role in reviewing development applications, issuing permits, and helping protect people, property, and infrastructure from flooding, erosion, and other natural hazards" (HCA 2025). And I echo the concern put forth by the HCA that "as systems grow, it becomes harder to protect local priorities and ensure local voices remain central to future decisions" (HCA 2025). Strong conservation depends on local relationships - and that is not going to exist with a merger - what will happen is a fractured, inefficient system based on political will at a provincial level - which will be affected by powerful economic decisions that will forget about the creeks, the song birds, the fallen oak, and the habitats and ecosystems that support the large life we are so proud to call Ontario.

I do NOT support this merger.