Centralization should always…

Centralization should always be assumed to be a bad idea and then justified against this assuming. The reason that all centralization needs justification is that as organizations become more centralized they care less and less about the local individuals they serve. So unless there is a very significant improvement from the centralization, it will lead to worse outcomes. We have seen the errors of unjustified amalgamation happen with the municipal amalgamations instituted provincially in the 90s. Local individuals were worse served by their municipalities at higher expense.

In this specific case, the problem is cast as "current system of 36 separate conservation authorities is fragmented, with each conservation authority following different policies, standards, fees and levels of staffing and technical capabilities." Yet, the fact that conservation authorities have different policies, standards, and fees is the entire point of having regional authorities. They each cater to the needs of their constituents based on their historical development. Making them all the same would mean they serve their constituents more poorly than they do today.

If staffing levels and technical capabilities are wanting in some authorities, which cause "unpredictable and inconsistent turnaround times for approvals across all conservation authorities, creating uncertainty and delays for builders, landowners and farmers seeking permits" then those issues should be directly addressed within the current structure. For example, the province should require certain turnaround times and the local authorities should make the appropriate changes.

Centralizing does not change the expertise needed or magically create experts in places they do not already exist. In fact, centralizing and also changing at the same time creates higher risk than simply changing without centralizing.

I have seen this play over and over again in both private and public sectors. Centralizing is not a solution to a problem. In fact, it often creates new problems, by applying uniform rules to localities where different rules are needed.

The province of Ontario is larger in area than most countries and thus needs to retain local values contained within each watershed authority. If there are problems that need to be address, then those problems should be addressed using today's watershed authority structure.