County officials fear loss of local voices in conservation authorities shake-up

WELLINGTON COUNTY – Doug Ford’s majority government is expected to pass legislation this spring consolidating Ontario’s 36 conservation authorities into just nine regional authorities.

In Wellington County, six conservation authorities cover watersheds winding through seven lower-tier municipalities.

With the changes, the county’s watersheds would be covered by three new regional authorities beginning next year.

The government argues the current 36 conservation authorities are fragmented, inconsistent and inefficient, leading to permitting and development delays.

For more than 70 years, conservation authorities have been charged with managing watershed resources; issuing permits for developments in sensitive areas affected by floodplains, wetlands and shorelines; protecting drinking water; maintaining conservation lands; and monitoring surface and groundwater.

Environment minister Todd McCarthy insists those responsibilities will continue uninterrupted with consolidation.

New regional authorities, he noted, would be strengthened in watershed management and flood resilience through “consistent provincial standards, modern tools and strengthened capacity” while getting developments built faster.

During a 45-day consultation period in November and December, the government received over 14,000 comments distilled into five key areas:

• the size and disparate needs of proposed regional conservation authorities;
• service disruption;
• cost of consolidation;
• fear of losing local input; and
• diluting municipal governance.

On March 10, the province released a decision outlining the coming changes in more detail, including updated boundaries that increased the number of regional authorities to nine, from the seven originally proposed.

“We listened and used feedback from last fall’s consultations to refine and strengthen our plan, including optimizing regional boundaries to better reflect local needs, knowledge and relationships,” McCarthy told reporters earlier this month.

The Ontario Provincial Conservation Agency (OPCA) was created last year to oversee the transition. The agency would be funded annually to the tune of $3 million, starting this year.

Following the transition, the province claims the centralized leadership agency would monitor regional authorities’ performance and improve service delivery. Annual funding would later be redirected to regional programs.

Local changes

Under the new regime, transitional committees would be formed by the OPCA for each region, with a representative from each of the existing authorities.

An appointed committee chair would become the new chief administrative officer of the regional authority, with a two-year term limit.

Regional authorities would be tasked with creating watershed councils, consisting of members from local municipalities and Indigenous communities to identify local priorities. It’s through the councils the government says local input would remain.

Though the regional authorities would be municipally-governed, upper-tier governments such as Wellington County would take over appointing members.

Lower-tier municipalities, which currently appoint members to conservation authority boards, would no longer directly participate.

Each regional authority would have between 15 and 20 members, with at least one appointed member from each municipality, based on population, and a cap to prevent over-representation.

Grand River Conservation Authority

“It’s definitely going to happen,” said Grand River Conservation Authority (GRCA) board vice chair and Centre Wellington Mayor Shawn Watters of the consolidation.

Watters said other conservation authorities rejected the plan, but the GRCA decided to “work with province … and hopefully make the system better.”

The GRCA, with a 26-member board, is one of the largest authorities in the province, representing 38 municipalities.

The GRCA met with McCarthy last week, Watters said, noting the board has been “supportive” and is happy with the province’s decision to split the originally proposed Lake Erie regional authority into separate eastern and western authorities.

The GRCA would join Catfish Creek, Kettle Creek and Long Point Region conservation authorities to form the Eastern Lake Erie Regional Conservation Authority.

Watters said the groups all oversee watersheds emptying into Lake Erie. The Grand River watershed begins at Luther Marsh and empties into the lake.

“It all makes sense in terms of watershed management in and around Lake Erie,” Watters said, adding the three smaller conservation authorities will benefit from the GRCA’s resources.

“By consolidating, it just makes it better for everybody,” Watters said.

Puslinch Mayor James Seeley, who represents the township, along with Guelph/Eramosa and Erin, on the GRCA board said in a message it appears the province listened to the GRCA's boundary recommendations, better suiting the interests of local communities.

Former GRCA and Conservation Ontario chair Chris White, also Wellington County warden, said conservation authorities will benefit from consolidation, as long as original mandates are met and the county has a local voice.

Credit Valley Conservation

Erin Mayor and Credit Valley Conservation (CVC) board member Michael Dehn said he’s concerned the town will lose its voice once the CVC joins Halton, Hamilton and Niagara conservation authorities to form the Western Lake Ontario Regional Conservation Authority.

A limb of the Credit River runs through downtown Hillsburgh, and in Erin another limb wraps around one side of Main Street to the other, behind the county’s new library.

“Flooding is of major concern,” Dehn said, noting the GRCA owns conservation land in the town’s rural areas to address flooding.

“If these watershed councils are actually going to have some meat on the bones to make decisions, great,” Dehn said. “My understanding is they won’t.”

Dehn doesn’t much care what the organizational structure looks like and admits to seeing some benefits to consolidation – as long as the local voice remains.

“What happens (farther) down the watershed (in Lake Ontario) starts up where we are,” he said.

Saugeen Valley Conservation Authority

Wellington North councillor Steve McCabe, who represents Wellington North and Minto on the Saugeen Valley Conservation Authority (SVCA) board, decried the province’s plan to remove lower-tier municipal participation.

“I’m literally on the ground every day here in the municipality,” McCabe said, adding county taxpayers need fair representation.

McCabe agrees with consolidating local authorities in Wellington North – “we don’t need three conservation authorities in one township or one county” – but said the Saugeen Valley watershed doesn’t have anything in common with some of the five additional authorities to be included in the new Lake Huron Regional Conservation Authority.

“I’ve sat on the SVCA (board) for almost 11 years, and can there be more efficiencies? Absolutely,” McCabe said.

But he criticized a long-unchanged provincial funding model.

“They talk about how inefficient we are, how we’re not doing a great job, well we don’t have any money,” McCabe said.

Municipal taxpayers currently cover more than half of a conservation authority’s budget.

Another 35 per cent of funding comes from self-generated revenue and the provincial and federal governments together cover around 12%.

Though the funding structure under consolidation remains unclear, the province’s March 10 decision, published to the Environmental Registry of Ontario, suggests the county, as the upper-tier municipality appointing members to a regional authority, “would be levied for portions of [conservation authority] operating expenses and costs not covered by other sources of revenue.”

Maitland Valley Conservation Authority

“I guess we’re gonna find out once the takeover happens here, and see if it’s gonna save any money, or it’s gonna cost more money – it’s hard to tell,” said Minto councillor Ed Podniewicz, who represents Minto, Mapleton and Wellington North on the Maitland Valley Conservation Authority (MVCA) board.

“I guess nobody has any say in this matter; just whatever the province decides to do they’re gonna do,” Podniewicz said, adding he’s against consolidation.

The MVCA would join the SVCA in forming the Lake Huron regional authority.

“I’m not in favour without a lot more input or more discussion on it before they actually impose something like that,” he said.

Hamilton Conservation Authority

Susan Fielding is a citizen member and vice chair of the Hamilton Conservation Authority board, which covers a small portion of southwest Puslinch, where the headwaters of the Hamilton Harbour begin.

The township is covered by three conservation authorities, including the GRCA and Conservation Halton.

“We did not want to see amalgamation,” Fielding said.

“We made that clear to the province ... “We felt that we were doing a good job as far as getting permits out in a timely manner and looking after things and being fair to developers.”

Though the board opposes joining the Western Lake Ontario regional authority, Fielding said members intend to participate while advocating for local concerns.

“It really takes away voices of, particularly smaller places, but very important areas of the conservation authorities,” Fielding said of the change.

Puslinch councillor Sara Bailey, who represents the township on GRCA and Conservation Halton boards, respectively, declined to comment.

Lisa Hern, a Wellington North councillor who represents Wellington North and Mapleton on the GRCA board, did not provide comment.