Hello, I hope this comment…

Hello,

I hope this comment reaches you well, I am reaching out to voice my concerns about the proposed boundary changes in the Conservation Authority Act. The current watershed boundaries of Ontario's Conservation Authorities have been crafted to help provide specific regional watershed based services to support the communities within said boundaries. Each region has its own environmental concerns and community relationships that help provide a specific overview of the environmental and societal impacts that proposed construction activities could have. With the boundary expansion, it is reasonable to be concerned with the overgeneralization of environmental standards for the sake of streamlining permitting. The alternative would be to fund and support local permitting departments in the ways they deem fit. Oftentimes conservation authority permitting departments simply require more staff in order to hasten permit return rates. Any alternative to this risks provincial permitting control over a regionally standardized process, along with severe environmental consequences getting overlooked. I implore you and other government officials to understand the severe consequences this could have on regional biodiversity, and relationships, and to seek to support Conservation Authority permitting in ways that they deem fit.