Concerns with conservation authority amalgamation come to council

The issue of the amalgamation of conservation authorities in Ontario made its way back to the Amherstburg council chambers.

Councillor Molly Allaire, who chairs the Essex Region Conservation Authority (ERCA) board of directors, brought the matter forward at the April 13 town council meeting.

“As the chair, I want to make sure our concerns are heard,” said Allaire. 

The ERCA board met the previous week and resolved to support the province’s modernization objectives “provided they do not compromise local representation, expertise, service delivery, or accountability,” and urged the Ontario government to “formally entrench the Minister’s assurances to ensure long-term protection of local offices, staff, programs, services, and local knowledge.”

In its April 9 motion, the ERCA board also “recommends reconsideration of watershed boundary scale, retention of meaningful participation for lower-tier municipalities, and an expedited and robust consultation process and meaningful dialogue with affected municipalities, industry experts, and stakeholders to ensure programs, services, and local expertise are protected to minimize unintended consequences.” 

The board of directors also agreed that its resolution be communicated with the Minister of the Environment, Conservation and Parks (MECP), the Ontario Provincial Conservation Agency, local MPPs, local municipalities and board of directors of the proposed Western Lake Erie Conservation Authority as a formal statement of the ERCA board’s position.

“This came from all the municipal leaders. This was built based on discussions on the table so that it could support our community. It’s not about ERCA, employment and staying alive. It’s about the services we get from that conservation authority and making sure they stay,” said Allaire. “I don’t think people realize the risks that moving to this amalgamated (authority) are causing. We wanted to lay it out.”

Allaire said the ERCA board met with the MECP, but not a lot of new information was given. A major concern is the loss of governance from lower tier municipalities.

“Lower-tier municipalities like ours would have no representation on the board, yet we would still have to contribute levy funding,” said Allaire. “Simply put, this is taxation without representation. Our community will pay into a system where those dollars are not guaranteed to stay here. They can go further than London.”

Job losses are another concern, said Allaire, accusing the province of putting out “shifting messages.” She said ERCA was told there would be no job losses and now there would be no frontline job losses.

Allaire added ERCA was told consultation was extensive, but she said 97.5 per cent of the roughly 14,000 submissions through the Environmental Registry of Ontario (ERO) were against amalgamation. Transition teams are concerning, she added, noting 19 members are on the ERCA board with one from the board and one ERCA staff member being part of the transition team. She said that’s eight people in total being put together to make decisions relating to the transition.

“You are going to have one representative from Windsor-Essex County and we have to choose them as a board right now to make sure your future is protected and you are well represented at that table,” she said.

Despite municipal leaders going into lame duck session soon, Allaire added they have to decide a future budget for the new authority by the end of 2026.

Allaire is calling for elected officials and the public to write to local MPPs and wanted Amherstburg town council to pass its own motion to support the resolution from ERCA.

“I’m not being the chair of a conservation authority and not doing absolutely everything I can to save this organization, but to ensure a smooth transition,” she said. “We’re kind of at that point we know we’re amalgamated but we have to be represented at that table.”

Allaire said local governance is important and she says every time they meet with the minister, there happens to be flood warnings at the same time. She added she participated in a Zoom call when, at the same time there was flooding from the Thames River. She questioned the fairness of having local tax dollars going to benefit another area.

“And you won’t have a voice about it,” she said.

Councillor Peter Courtney, who also represents Amherstburg on the ERCA board, said Allaire has been great in advocating for the area as she “tries to speak common sense into Minister McCarthy.” Courtney said every municipality sent off a letter objecting to an original plan to reduce conservation areas from 36 to seven, with the final decision being conservation areas will be reduced to nine.

“The marching orders are so vague. No one understands what they’ve got to act on or do. It’s so frustrating,” said Courtney. “We’re in some very trying times here with our province. I’m not understanding what the end goal is.” 

Courtney accused the province of “overstepping their bounds,” adding the current system is “not a broken system” that is working well for its specific watershed area.

“We fund that. We get some funding from the province and levy from the municipalities,” said Courtney. “We’re going to lose that ability to have strong advocacy for our area’s specific concerns. It’s going to get watered down. No one is going to know where to turn to.”

Courtney thought the province had “closed ears” in the process, but area municipalities “have to keep up the fight.”

Concerns with conservation authority amalgamation come to council

By Ron Giofu