The Ford government is amalgamating Ontario’s 36 conservation authorities into just seven and creating a new centralized agency to govern them, promising the change will not result in job losses or changes to their mandate.
On Friday morning, Minister of the Environment, Conservation and Parks Todd McCarthy announced the changes alongside the head of the newly unveiled Ontario Provincial Conservation Authority.
McCarthy said the changes he was ushering in would “ensure faster, more transparent permitting and more front-line services” and replace a “fragmented, inconsistent and outdated” system.
The new agency will create a single digital permitting platform to be used by the remaining seven conservation authorities and will streamline and standardize performance standards.
“The purpose of the agency is to create a standardized framework across the province to guide, provide support and make sure that the resourcing across the province, among conservation authorities, is even and fair,” McCarthy said.
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Officials with the government said they would be drawing up performance indicators for conservation authorities, but offered few details of what they would be.
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They would not say what would happen to authorities who fail to meet the new standards, and if the government would step in, telling reporters that was an area of policy officials are still finalizing.
“The proposals are the subject of conversations and consultations,” McCarthy said. “In the meantime, of course, conservation authorities as they are will continue, the governance of them will continue, the membership of them will continue to the end of this current municipal term in just one year’s time.”
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Jonathan Scott, the chair of the Nottawasaga Valley Conservation Authority, welcomed the move to standardize the process across the province, but said he was concerned about cutting the number of authorities.
He said conservation authorities were already taking steps to speed up their development approvals.
“I don’t actually think that this consolidation exercise will help that; it will hinder it, it will create a little bit of chaos in the sector,” Scott said.
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McCarthy said the consolidation of 36 authorities into seven would not mean any job losses, but there will be some management positions “redeployed” to front-line roles.
He did not answer repeated questions about how he would guarantee no job losses or what consequences authorities who did lose staff would face.
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McCarthy said the CEOs of the 36 existing conservation authorities would have a “transformational opportunity” to become front-line workers.
According to salary disclosures, the head of the Toronto Region Conservation Authority earned $305,033 last year.
The government is set to soon introduce legislation to establish the Ontario Provincial Conservation Agency, which it says will provide centralized leadership and strategic direction. It will be expected to develop a single platform for permits, set provincewide standards and oversee the consolidation.
The changes to conservation authorities are expected to be implemented after consultation next spring, the government said, and existing board members will continue to serve until after the province changes governance structures after next October’s municipal elections.
A housing law from the Progressive Conservative government a few years ago reduced the role of conservation authorities, including limiting the areas they can consider in development permissions, removing factors such as pollution and conservation of the land.
— with files from The Canadian Press
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