I am strongly opposed to the…

I am strongly opposed to the Province's proposed legislation that includes consolidation of 36 conservation authorities into just seven to be overseen by a new centralized provincial agency.
Should this legislation be passed, critical local environmental knowledge and expertise will be lost, or distanced, from where it is most needed.

Natural infrastructure such as forests and wetlands provide the lowest-cost, most effective buffering and mitigation from environmental harms. Ontario's 36 local conservation authorities are the best-positioned agencies to ensure strategic protection of this infrastructure. Should the proposed legislation pass, risks to the public and property from flooding events and erosion will only worsen as severe weather events increase in intensity and frequency in this era of climate change.

Ontario's conservation authorities are a highly-effective, internationally-recognized model of watershed-based land stewardship. The current network of 36 conservation authorities should be strengthened and celebrated, not dismantled and weakened, so that CAs can continue to do the important work Ontario's taxpayers expect of them.