I am extremely concerned…

I am extremely concerned about the proposed idea to amalgamate the conservation agencies. In particular, I am very concerned that the amalgatation would severely impact the authority's ability to comment on flooding risks and other natural hazards for permit applications.

Are the new CA offices going to be able to effectively and efficiently provide comments to the tens of thousands of permit applications they receive from these new giant regions? A major role that the CAs do is preventing buildings from being constructed in areas that are prone to flooding. I'm concerned that a developer might take advantage of the fact that the new office is now having to deal with a much larger area, and they might decide to just go ahead and build their suburb or condos or what-have-you without waiting for those comments. And then what will happen? For one, if flooding becomes more frequent, everyone's house insurance will increase. There might be some areas where new builds are essentially uninsurable.

Also, if I notice that my neighbour is dumping a bunch of fill into the wetland behind his house, that's a concern to me because the next time it storms, the water that would have been absorbed by that wetland has to go somewhere - and the next place it might divert to might be right into my basement. I'm able to report my neighbour's activity to the CA, and they're able to get out immediately and stop him before he gets too far. If the new CA is now having to cover a region hundreds of kilometres wide, are they going to even see or hear my report before it's too late?

The current conservation authority is an incredible resource. Knowing that there are staff who are experts on the natural hazards in my particular community, and knowing that they're able to effectively mitigate natural hazard risks in my community is an amazing comfort, and a model that Ontario should take pride in. Please reconsider the amalgamation proposal.