I'm not sure if commenting…

I'm not sure if commenting here even makes a difference, but I strongly disagree with consolidating the regional environmental authorities.

Ontario is a vast province with a plethora of different species of plants and animals, which can vary greatly even within a small distance. I grew up in Prince Edward County but when I would camp in Tweed, just a short drive away but on the Canadian Shield, I would see different types of trees and even the squirrels were different there.

Cramming the complex environmental needs of 36 unique regions into 7 regional authorities is going to hurt our environment, full stop. If they are having a hard time communicating with each other, make them an intranet and help remove that siloed communication. Work with representatives from each authority to create new policies that work across regions.

This is so obvious that I think likely the issues being discussed here are not the true reason for this consolidation, but I will leave a comment in this void and hope that it makes some sort of difference.

Our environment gives us clean air, fresh water, and so much more. Please, please don't gut these agencies. They do important work and it's your job to help them do it, not take away jobs and destroy our environment in the process.