What going on in the GRCAs Elora Gorge Conservation Area? Dear Editor, Inside the Elora Gorge Conservation is a campground tucked away, down by the Grand river. Its a beautiful spot called the Pines, where seasonal campers, many with trailer cottages have been camping for over three decades. These sites have passed down within families or trailers/cottages have been sold to close friends. The Pines has a huge waiting list for sites, many folks never having success gaining seasonal access. This camping area was purchased by the GRCA from private owners many years ago. Many of the ongoing seasonal members are seniors, some using the Pines as their Canadian home, venturing south to warmer climes in the winter. This fall an announcement came that the Pines would likely close if the cost of redoing a sewage system for the area was too expensive. I would like to draw attention to some important ideas that need consideration and discussion in the decision making process concerning the Pines. Over thirty years the GRCA has extracted several million dollars from the season community in the Pines. This money has been diverted to pay for general expenses not to sustain the area itself. Those using the area take care of their own property, in fact the staff are rarely seen in the area. The GRCA has used this area as a cash cow to generate revenue. When the agency is unwilling to use the revenue it has taken in from the Pines, to make the area sustainable, the GRCA is violating its own mandate and the basic principles of sustainability. Thinking more about sustainability, beyond the revenue /cost equation, the GRCA should consider the impact removing the community will have on those seniors who call the Pines summer home. Although the Agency wants to hide behind the legality of contracts with renters, there is a strong community there. This would be difficult for the Agency to comprehend as they have never tried to actively engage the community. One cannot imagine that decision makers have considered the economic impact of removing fifty families from the Elora economy, a place they spend their money for six months a year in supermarkets, stores, gas stations and restaurants. There is concern that the Conservation Authority will fall back on reasonings like the Pines area could be flooded in high water times. I have been in Elora for many years and the Pines area has never flooded. There must be some significance to the fact that the GRCA controls the water flow in the river. The GRCA has promised a transparent process, but they have been sorely lacking in transparency in the past. In the past year the swimming lake at Elora was closed and renamed a stream reclamation project, with no discussion. For the many campers who had prepaid their deposit for the season, particularly those with children, the reason for being a seasonal camper was taken away. This was bitterly unacceptable for many. The reason given for the closure was an unwillingness to spend the money to fix the water system. I can only conclude that the GRCA is functioning as an authoritarian beauracy, which does little to dialogue or interact with its stakeholders. The GRCA does not appear to be connected to the reasons people use their facilities, or the impact unilateral actions have on those the GRCA are serving. Its time for the GRCA to: address the principles of sustainability in the Pines and enter into dialogue with the community there, to find solutions to common problems, rather than continuing to work in a dictatorial secretive manner which seems completely reflective of the current culture at GRCA. For the many seniors affected by the decision making process,transparency does not mean “here is how the axe will fall on your head”,it means.. lets see openly the information upon which decisions are based and the criteria used by decision makers to evaluate the information Sincerely, Stephen Harris
Stephen Harris