I have had nothing but…

I have had nothing but horrible experiences with my local conservation authority. Specifically entering my property unlawfully, bully tactics, lies, manipulation of the Conservation Authority Act and harassment.

This conservation authority is extremely rude, completely unreasonable and in my opinion...dangerous. I have had them enter onto my property private property looking for violations claiming they are allowed to (lie) as per C.A act. They harass if you do anything on the regulated portion of your property even work that doesn't require a permit. I have had to tell them to leave my property as i was not doing anything in any violations, its ridiculous! They have no respect for private land owners rights and Im afraid of what might happen if they get any more power.

There is no one overseeing them so they literally don't care how they treat private land owners, its a complete disgrace and an embarrassment to the Ontario government that they have gotten the power they have with no governing. I am appalled every time I am even reminded of their existence.

I have artificial wetlands on my property that were created due to a farm drain lacking maintenance, my property is now flooding because the conservation authority is so unreasonable in allowing me to clean out the drain. They are promoting flooding, not preventing. They are gaining more and more regulations over farmland they have no business regulating as they are not qualified.

There should have to be restrictions in official plans that set out clearly what areas of land are regulated and why they are regulated and i believe if the lands were regulated by a governing agency there would be. I was never made aware in 2006 when my property became regulated by conservation authority, how can this be??? I was told by the C.A. "we don't have to notify landowners that we are regulating their land". This seems very sneaky to say the least.Their permits are outrageous and you cannot get answers from them until you apply for a permit with full payment, regardless of approval or not. Approvals are denied for frivolous reasons, if your lucky to be approved they make things so complicated beyond any common sense its not worth doing. They are an unorganized mess, they make zero sense, they can't spell and they make things up as they go along. They should NOT be a governing force, they are completely incapable. Municipalities, MNRF, MOE etc should only be regulating citizens, Im not even sure its legal for third party organizations to regulate private lands.

It is my strong opinion that Conservation authorities should NOT be regulating private lands at all. If the Ontario government doesn't put strict restrictions on the power and authority of these conservation authorities to put them back to their original mandate Ontario is in grave danger. Property values are decreasing, development is stopped with no rhyme or reason as they don't seem to know what they are doing. In the experience I have had with them they have NO INTEGRITY, they are unorganized and if you ask them the same question more than once you will be sure to get a different answer every time....what does that tell you??

I am appalled at the thought of ever having to deal with my local C.A. ever again, Id rather eat worms than deal with them. I will never buy a property with one square inch of land regulated by them, it would have to be free. To anyone who hasn't had an interaction with them Good Luck......complete embarrassment to our provincial government that these C.A's were ever allowed to regulate private land with all their fabricated nonsense. And top it off with no one to complain to for 13 years so far when they bully and harass landowners!! Free country?? It doesn't seem so since these guys came to my area....

Best Regards