RE: Regional Consolidation…

RE: Regional Consolidation of Ontario’s Conservation Authorities ERO #025-1257, a proposal to consolidate Ontario’s 36 Conservation Authorities (CAs) into seven large regional entities.

I have 40 years of experience working with community leaders, and in the sustainability, resilience and conservation realm across Ontario, and I unreservedly oppose this consolidation.

Ontario is facing more frequent and severe climate-driven flooding—and now is not the time to destabilize the system designed to protect public safety.

Conservation Authorities provide far more than permitting and hazard prevention. CAs are the local face of:
• watershed stewardship and restoration
• science, monitoring, and technical advice
• climate resilience
• education and outreach
• parks, trails, and community programming
• land and water management that reflects local geography, history, and risk.

This local presence underpins public confidence and is essential to the long-standing relationships between CAs, municipalities, landowners, and watershed groups.

As one of only a handful of invited experts at the 2020 MECP consultations related to the role of Ontario’s Conservation Authorities, I outlined the critical role this expertise played in informing wise, resilient, safe community planning. I also asked the question: “if not the CA’s, then who?”

Conservation Authorities were intentionally formed around watershed boundaries—not administrative regions. Diluting watershed-based decision making where some consolidated regions would span more than 28,000 km² and up to 80 municipalities undermines the scientific foundation of the model. It will weaken local watershed expertise, dilute municipal and community representation, and disrupt nearly 80 years of successful Conservation Authority operations.

Further I do not believe this model will deliver improved consistency or customer service across the province. The scale of this unnecessary and shortsighted disruption represents a significant governance and operational overhaul with substantial transition costs, administrative burden, and risk of service interruptions. It will create more uncertainty and administrative burden for all stakeholders – not less.

The current watershed-based expertise ensures the orderly, safe and resilient use and development of our communities and needs the informed, local lens of Ontario’s Conservation Authorities. The effectiveness of CAs depends on close relationships with local municipalities, landowners, and community organizations. The proposed regionalized model inherently distances decision-makers and staff from the communities they serve.

Ontario’s Conservation Authority system is not broken. It is a proven, science-based governance model that has served communities for generations. Improvements to consistency and service delivery are welcome, but they must strengthen rather than erode watershed-based decision making.