Bruce County council has directed staff to share feedback regarding a proposed amalgamation of local conservation authorities that is being put forth by the provincial government.
Comments surrounding the consolidation of local conservation authorities are currently being accepted through the provincial Environmental Registry.
The proposed consolidation, outlined in Bill 68 – the Plan to Protect Ontario Act, would combine the Maitland Valley Conservation Authority, Ausable Bayfield, Saugeen Valley, Grey Sauble, Nottawasaga, Lake Simcoe Region, and Lakehead Region.
Manager of Land Use Planning Jack Van Dorp shared the rationale behind the combination of various regional authorities, and explained that it was a way to developing a single permitting platform and province-wide service standards.
Deputy Warden Don Murray suggested how the proposed amalgamation might be improved, by changing which regional authorities might be included.
“Maitland Valley had a meeting with Ausable Bayfield, Saugeen Valley, and Grey Sauble, and they’ve come up with an idea that I think would work [well] here – the Healthy Lake Huron Shorelines,” shared Murray during the December 18th council meeting. “And our proposal from Huron-Kinloss is to bring St. Clair in with us…put the five conservation authorities together along the Lake Huron shorelines, and drop everyone else off. We believe that we are all aligned in the same theory along the shorelines of Lake Huron, and it would be a good fit and it would put five conservation authorities together, which would be a great start for them.”
As it stands, the existing proposal for and amalgamated body would be called the Huron-Superior Regional Conservation Authority, but the main sticking point is that including the Lakehead Region Conservation Authority means that the jurisdiction of a regional group would span from Goderich to Thunder Bay, which is reflected on a map that was provided by the Ontario Government.
Councillor Chris Peabody didn’t mince words as he shared his thoughts on the proposed regional authority, “I know everybody agrees it’s the dumbest map ever, produced by a bureaucrat in Toronto, not knowing it takes 18 hours to drive up to Thunder Bay.”
Meanwhile, Peabody added that tacking on the Lakehead Region doesn’t make sense for any of the counties involved, should it move ahead.
“Nobody thinks that’s a good idea, including Thunder Bay, and certainly the stupidity of that map undermines the proposal and the concept.”
The main concern for municipalities covered by the proposed amalgamation is that smaller communities’ voices would be lost, particularly when speaking about agriculture.
Overall, Bill 68 would move to combine 36 existing conservation authorities across Ontario into 7 regional bodies.
The proposed Act was introduced on November 7th.
The deadline for municipalities to submit their feedback is December 22nd.
