As a taxpaying citizen of…

As a taxpaying citizen of Ontario, residing in the Cataraqui Watershed, I wish to state my strong opposition to the provincial government's proposal to amalgamate the province's 36 regional conservation authorities into 7 larger regions, and to give the relevant minister ultimate control over their decisions.
In my opinion, such an act would be complete folly. Our regional conservation authorities perform a vital function overseeing, preserving, and to a necessary degree regulating the use of our land and our water. They do this with an eye to assuring that the land and water is used in a safe and reliable way, to assure its preservation for the present and future health and benefit of all its residents, as well as our protection against the twin hazards of drought and flooding.
They are able to do this effectively because they are LOCAL in scope and operation. They know their respective watersheds' characteristics--geology, topography, unique aspects--intimately, and thus can best utilize its resources, as well as respond to problems and threats to the land or to the flow of water. To create larger--in some cases excessively large--conservation authorities is to throw away this crucial advantage. Sheer folly.
And why? To speed development? To make life easier for developers? To potentially make destructive, irreversible mistakes in order that developers may go where they perhaps should not go? I urge the government to withdraw this proposal, and keep our excellent, successful conservation authorities at the current number, and, moreover, with restored powers.