Local conservation…

Local conservation authorities are an integral part of Ontario communities. As a recent summer student at an Ontario conservation authority (CA), I was able to see firsthand the importance of these local organizations and the impactful work that they do. I fear with the amalgamation of CAs into larger regional authorities, their impact may be reduced and a ripple affect may be experienced by other not-for-profit groups in Ontario with which these CAs collaborate. Additionally, as a student I worry that this will impact the number of summer positions that would be available to students. Coming from a rural area in Ontario, there are limited summer positions related to my studies. Not only do these local authorities provide targeted summer employment for smaller regions, they also provide student employees the opportunity to learn and be exposed to environmental conservation related work.

Although I do not disagree with all aspects of the province's proposal (I believe streamlining the approval process for permits would be a positive outcome), I think the boundary changes would not be supportive in strengthening environmental conservation in Ontario especially in this anthropogenic era when we need it most.