Ontario watersheds are not…

Ontario watersheds are not the only consideration needed to be made when defining conservation boundaries. Delicate microhabitats need local knowledge to be adequately protected, which a large amalgam of a conservation authority will undoubtedly miss. Permit turnaround is subject to environmental bio monitoring and evaluation at the local scale, not regional. It requires, again, local knowledge of the land that will be massively missed by a conglomerate who is more concerned with passing permits through than concerted conservation efforts.
At a time where Ontario's disgraced Premier Doug Ford is repealing species protections and Ontario is set to miss our 2030 environmental protection goals by a landslide, downsizing the impact of our conservation authorities appears to be to the benefit of shareholders and construction teams, not Ontarians or our wildlife. Our wild spaces, which Ontario is so proud of, directly protects us from flooding and severe weather events. Our ecosystems combat drastic changes and even act as a carbon sink to offset the carbon emissions that keep being driven higher and higher. If we fall to protect our land, we fail to protect our future.
The arbitrary redrawing of boundaries hurts current conservation authorities and the future protection of our many proudly Ontarian spaces. We cannot lump so many different types of habitats under a few umbrellas and call it quits – we must protect the ground we stand on by standing where we are, not governing from afar.