As a member of the LTVCA…

As a member of the LTVCA board, I am deeply concerned about the merging of Ontario’s conservation authorities. The province states that the intent is to “improve the conservation authority (CA) system to free up resources for front-line service delivery to help protect communities and better align the work of CAs with provincial priorities”.

Most conservation authorities are already meeting or exceeding the province’s expectations for efficiency. It seems unlikely that turning 37 conservation authorities into 7 large organizations will create less bureaucracy or reduce costs. In fact, this merger is likely to add a new, costly layer of management that may actually slow the very development approvals the province says it wants to speed up!
Far more concerning is that this move could strip away the authority held locally by people who intimately understand our watersheds and our unique communities. With less local input and expertise, environmental protections will undoubtedly be comprised. Decisions that were previously made on a local level will now be handled by large regional bodies that will be much harder to hold accountable. This would ultimately make us, as residents less safe, putting the long term health of our watersheds (and source water) at risk.
There is also the question of who will represent our small communities on these new regional boards? It is unlikely that each area will have a “seat at the table”. With limited representation, the voices of each Municipality will be weakened, along with our ability to do responsible land-use planning. We will lose the ability to control how our money is spent with the local funding we provide (through our property tax) likely ending up serving a provincial agenda rather than our community’s priorities—especially if development-driven interests dominate the new regional boards. I urge you to reconsider this consolidation. It seems like an attempt to “fix” a system that isn’t broken.