I have been a conservation…

I have been a conservation area user and supporter for over 30 years. I do not support this merger of conservation authorities. It will only add a bureaucratic layer with higher costs and there won't be any benefits to the operations of the conservation authorities or the services they provide. The issues they deal with and the people they serve most often are extremely local and thus require local knowledge, experience, and judgement. Having widespread areas merge will only worsen the conservation operations. I am also a CPA with strong financial experience and do not forsee any cost efficiencies for these mergers without a negative impact on their services. In fact it will likely add costs for another layer of management and higher travel costs. A better idea would be to have a small central group set up that can be consulted by all conservation authorities for cost efficiencies if needed and only if desired. For example hiring a civil engineer on staff that can be used by any conservation authority, or purchasing a large piece of machinery that any authority can request use for a period of time. There are a multitude of better options than the proposed merger, and consulting with the actual conservation authorities and its users would be a better first step.