Dear Minister, Your plan to…

Dear Minister,
Your plan to consolidate Conservation Authorities into 7 mega boards will endanger local democracy, cause flooding that will endanger thousands of Ontarians, destroy wetland bio-diversity and lead to more water pollution.

Large central authorities cannot possibly have the local knowledge necessary to regulate the flow of water safely, understand how development will impact flooding downstream, protect rare local species from habitat extinction. Nor will these boards, whose members will likely be chosen for political rather than environmental reasons, have the scientific knowledge necessary to ensure clean drinking water for all Ontarians.

I am also concerned about your plans to privatize local water systems. Water is a human right and should place the health and welfare of people before profit. That is the bare minimum expectation of government: that it not kill its population. De-regulating water systems has led to deaths in Ontario in Walkerton several decades ago. Let's not have another Conservative government make the same mistake with the same results.