I am a Coastal Engineer who…

I am a Coastal Engineer who has regularly acquires approval from and work alongside multiple conservation authorities in southern Ontario (TRCA, CVC, CH, HC, NPCA, SCRCA, ABCA). One thing that concerns me is whether or not there will be efforts to ensure there is continuity in the staff between the existing and and consolidated authorities with existing conservation authority staff remaining in their current geographic areas.

Consolidation of the authorities like this may lead/require replacement or removal of many staff from these authorities which would lead to a loss of experience and local knowledge in these areas. To be frank, I have never particularly had any issue with the fact that there are multiple conservation authorities. The issue that we consistently encounter which causes significant delays and increased costs to our clients when acquiring permits is high turnover of authority staff as new staff do not generally have the knowledge or experience to efficiently issue permits or properly apply their regulations.

I think something to consider would instead of consolidating the authorities would be to implement legislation that standardizes the regulations and frameworks of the existing conservation authorities.

I am quite worried that consolidating and changing the geographic regions like this will cause loss of existing staff and therefore institutional knowledge which will cause significant issues for quite some time after implementation.