I represent one of many…

I represent one of many cases across Ontario where property owners are being denied the rights to building permits (minor/major) and to make use of their own land due to designations set by the MNRF and enforced by local Conservation Authorities. The role of the Conservation Authorities should be to protect watercourses, floodplains and PSW on crown land. However, when it comes to Private property we need a better and more fair system that takes the rights of the property owner into account as well. Currently the MNRF and the Conservation Authority are able to devalue private properties by as much as 80% by placing PSW or Unclassified Wetland designations on them without even ground truthing. This is not fair to land rural owners who have every motivation to be excellent stewards of their land and the natural habitats surrounding it. If the Government, MNRF and Conservation Authorities cannot consider making some sort of compromise with land owners who have wetland designations on their property then perhaps the fairest thing to do would be to offer to purchase the land at market value from land owners in these types of situations. Restricting what rural land owners can do on their own properties undermines the property rights granted to private land owners on their Crown Land Patents in principal. This is an issue that has been overlooked by law makers for far too long and there needs to be a balance set in place.