I live in a riding the PCs…

I live in a riding the PCs probably consider safe - northern, very rural, sparsely populated. Your party consistently wins votes in ridings like mine by maintaining an image of being an advocate for rural residents. It is baffling to me why you would therefore slash funding to conservation authorities, knowing that for smaller CAs their only option (if they wish to maintain the services you say they should be focusing on) is to jack their municipal levies.

Ontario has been exposed to a lot of this Republican-style messaging over the last few years, where funding cuts are described as opportunities to focus on essentials, etc. It is extremely tiresome and really, no one buys it. Do you think our municipal council members will hesitate to use social media to connect the dots for their constituents? Provincial funding slashed by over 50% to CA - CA then raises levies by a large amount - municipality then has to raise property taxes to cover the "new" expense that the provincial government just handed us. This legislation is guaranteeing tax hikes, while trying to hide the root cause of them - very dishonest. It won't work!

There is no reason to cut funding to this extent to rural CAs without consultation with affected municipalities. Pissing off your core voters is not a good strategy for getting reelected in 2022.