The Ford government is suggesting provincial conservation authorities “wind down” on services and refrain from fee increases while it reviews legislative changes.

Minister of Environment, Conservation and Parks Jeff Yurek outlined the request in a letter sent to Ontario’s 36 conservation authorities  and their member municipalities last week.

According to Conservation Ontario, the province’s conservation authorities own 150, 000 acres of land in Ontario and operate more than 500 conservation areas.

Brian Tayler is the CAO of the North Bay-Mattawa Conservation Authority.

He says conservation authorities have been blind sided.

Tayler says it doesn’t make sense for the Minister to tell conservation authorities to cut back on programs that the province doesn’t fund and the board has the authority to deliver.

He says they’ve been working for months with ministry staff to streamline changes in concert with the government’s goals and this letter flies in the face of that.

Reports say priority programs are things like flood control and drinking water source protection but officials are worried other programs like trail development could be cut.

 

(photo by station staff)

Filed under: North Bay-Mattawa Conservation Authority