Hello I do not support this…

Hello
I do not support this proposal. The Ford government has been stripping away environmental protection in general and by conservation authorities as long as they've been in power. This is another attack, which is not good for anything - particularly the environment we depend on (for food, clean water, air, etc) and the economy (e.g., conservation authorities protect wetlands which protect us and our infrastructure from flooding).

Conservation authorities and municipal leaders warn that Ontario's plan to merge 36 of its conservation authorities into 7 regional authorities will erode local expertise, weaken municipal voices, create confusion, slow approvals and undermine watershed protection. Staff stress consolidation ignores geography, strains already limited resources and shifts power upward, replacing community-driven governance with centralized provincial control. Why has the Ford government not been listening to this?

The Conservatives actually started conservation authorities.

This proposal has no clear statutory obligation to prioritize public safety and environmental conservation over the convenience of sprawl developers. It puts all our nature, protected areas, Greenbelt, etc in jeopardy.

This proposal has been announced to standardize Conservation Authority policies and standards to “get shovels in the ground sooner” for wasteful, McMansion-style sprawl development. Unless it is expressly prohibited, this would almost certainly mean lowering many current Conservation Authority approval standards, or reducing the level of scrutiny applied to permit applications. That would put Ontarians at risk.

Concerns about “inconsistency” should not be used as a pretext for reducing Conservation Authorities programs and service levels to the lowest common denominator. Specialized teams, like the Toronto Region Conservation Authority’s Restoration and Infrastructure team, are essential to protecting the public and preserving nature in the face of their specific regions’ unique challenges.

I am concerned by the Ford government’s continued attempts to cast development in farms, forests, wetlands, and floodplains as a path to improving housing supply. We can meet housing needs by building homes inside existing neighbourhoods, as demonstrated in, for example, Environmental Defence's Midrise Manual and many other expert reports. This is the only approach capable of catching up with the need for new homes. “Getting shovels in the ground” to build more sprawl in Ontario’s floodplains would mean fewer, more expensive homes overall. Ford long ago promised to work on housing. He has not yet delivered. Reducing conservation authority power is not the answer.

Instead, the Ford government should be granting more environmental protection and give back the ability for conservation authorities to do their jobs properly (which he continues to strip away). The government's actions seem irresponsible and not transparent. I don't feel like I or experts are being listened to. I'd like to see Ontario do better. Thank you