ABCA responds to Minister's letter
Ausable Bayfield Conservation Authority (ABCA) has shared the concern, expressed by Conservation Ontario in an August 19, 2019 news release, about a letter from the Province of Ontario that “moves to constrain” programs and services provided by conservation authorities.
The Honourable Jeff Yurek, Ontario Minister of the Environment, Conservation and Parks (MECP), issued a letter to conservation authorities on Friday, August 16, 2019. The letter was addressed to “whom it may concern.” The letter included a “request” to conservation authorities to “ ... begin preparations and planning to wind down those activities that fall outside the scope of your core mandate.”
Conservation Ontario is the association which represents Ontario’s 36 conservation authorities. Kim Gavine, General Manager of Conservation Ontario, called the content of the letter “extremely disappointing.” The news release said Conservation Ontario and conservation authorities are “stunned” by the Minister’s letter. “We’ve been caught completely by surprise,” Gavine said. “We’ve been working for months in good faith with the government to make a number of planning and development approvals streamlining changes to support their agenda to eliminate the deficit and implement the Housing Strategy.” There was no consultation with Conservation Ontario or the CAs about the content of the letter before it was circulated, according to the news release.
Earlier this year, the Province of Ontario proposed changes to the Conservation Authorities Act through Bill 108, the More Homes, More Choice Act, 2019. The Act received third reading and Royal Assent on June 6, 2019. The Minister said, in the August 16 letter, that changes to the Conservation Authorities Act will require conservation authorities to “re-focus their efforts” on delivery of programs and services related to their “ ... core mandate, such as those related to ...” risk of natural hazards; conservation and management of conservation authority owned or controlled lands; drinking water source protection; protection of the Lake Simcoe watershed; (and) other programs or services, as prescribed by regulation. “Furthermore, over the coming months,” the Minister wrote, “I will be reviewing all of the relevant legislation and regulations that govern Ontario’s conservation authorities to explore even more opportunities to re-focus their efforts and to ensure they are best serving the interests of the people of Ontario.”
The Minister’s letter was issued before discussion of regulations that would go with the legislation, according to Conservation Ontario. Discussions are “ … only beginning... about the regulations that go with the legislation which will specify which actual programs and services are mandatory,” Gavine said.
The Province of Ontario cut funding, by about 50 per cent earlier this year, for natural hazards and flood forecasting and warning work by conservation authorities. Ontario provides a minority of the funding conservation authorities receive. Conservation authorities provide a variety of watershed management programs in partnership with all levels of government. These programs help to reduce or prevent costly and devastating damages of flooding, protect water resources, help to reduce pollution from reaching the Great Lakes, and support healthy watersheds, according to Conservation Ontario.
Conservation Ontario’s concern with the content of the Province’s letter is shared by Ausable Bayfield Conservation Authority. ABCA General Manager and Secretary-Treasurer Brian Horner said he hopes the Province of Ontario will reconsider the approach in the letter and will speak with the conservation authority, local municipalities, and the public before making changes that would negatively impact, water, soil, and the health of the local watershed. “We would like to have an opportunity to speak with the Minister,” he said. “The community doesn’t even know the effect of these changes yet. People here have not had a chance to provide input and we have not had a chance to speak with our local municipalities,” he said. “It would be premature, and have a negative effect, to wind down activities that benefit water, soil, and the health of this rural watershed when there are still so many unanswered questions and the regulation is not in place.”
Many local programs, identified by the community as needed, could be threatened if the Province’s approach is too restrictive, he said. “Traditionally, the mandate for conservation authorities and the successful watershed management model in Ontario has always made it possible for us to respond to local needs, especially in a rural area like ours,” Horner said. “I hope that we can meet with the Province to ensure this will still be possible.”