The chair of the Grey Sauble Conservation Authority Board of Directors is extremely disappointed and shocked the province wants them to “wind-down” non-core programs and not to proceed with any increases to levies or fees.
Cathy Little is upset the Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks continues to preemptively make changes without meaningful consultation.
She added it makes no sense at a time when watershed municipalities are becoming increasingly concerned about the environmental and economic health and safety of their communities in the face of a changing climate.
She said the “Non-core” programs that are at risk of elimination include water quality testing, environmental education programs (e.g. Day Camps), stewardship projects, and tree planting on non-CA land. Most of these “non-core” programs are currently provided on a cost-recovery basis and help to subsidize “core” programs.
After a very brief consultation process in the spring, the current provincial government made changes to the Conservation Authorities Act, despite appeals from both opposition parties. These changes state that CAs can only levy for “Core” programs that relate to Natural Hazards, including development and flood review; Drinking Water Source Protection, which is currently funded by the Province; and the Management of lands owned by conservation authorities.
She said these recent changes to the Conservation Authorities Act already jeopardize the valuable watershed-based programming approach by requiring case-by-case agreements with individual municipalities to continue “non-core” programs. The watershed-based approach that conservation authorities were established to operate under provides holistic management of natural resources on a local scale.
Last spring authorities were hit hard when the Provincial budget cut funding for flood forecasting by 50 per cent.