Belleville City Council voted in favour of a resolution opposing the province’s proposal to merge Ontario’s 36 conservation authorities into seven large regional entities.
This would include merging Quinte Conservation into a vast “Eastern Lake Ontario” authority.
The resolution was brought forward by Councillor Kathryn Brown on Monday.
Reasons for council’s opposition to the proposed mergers included risks of higher costs, lost local input, and reduced quality of service.
The city will send the resolution to the Ministry of Environment, Conservation and Parks, relevant MPPs, local Indigenous leaders, and other stakeholders as part of the approval.
You can read the full resolution from Councillor Brown below:
WHEREAS the Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks has posted Environmental Registry Notice No. 025-1257 (Proposed Boundaries for the Regional Consolidation of Ontario’s Conservation Authorities), proposing to reduce Ontario’s 36 conservation authorities to 7 regional entities as part of a broader restructuring that would create a new Ontario Provincial Conservation Agency to provide centralized oversight and direction under the Conservation Authorities Act; and
WHEREAS under this proposal, the Quinte Conservation Authority (QCA) would be merged into a new “Eastern Lake Ontario Conservation Authority” together with:
- Central Lake Ontario CA
- Kawartha Region CA
- Otonobee Region CA
- Ganaraska Region CA
- Lower Trent Region CA
- Crowe Valley CA
Forming a single organization stretching from Oshawa, Kawartha Lakes, Hastings County, Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory and areas within Lennox & Addington.
WHEREAS the Quinte Conservation Board and the Municipality of the City of Belleville acknowledges and supports the provincial goals of improved efficiency, consistency and fiscal prudence in conservation delivery; but find the proposed “Eastern Lake Ontario Regional Conservation Authority configuration would:
- Create a geographically vast and administratively complex entity, joining northern, rural and fast-growing south-eastern municipalities through the province with little shared watershed connection or economic alignment;
- Dilute or eliminate a local accountability and municipal partnership, contrary to the principle that decisions are best made closest to the communities they serve;
- Generate substantial transition expenses – including Human Resources, governance restructuring, IT migration and policy harmonization – that would divert resources from front-line service delivery and delay measurable outcomes, contrary to the Province’s own business planning principle of “value for money, cost containment and service continuity”; and
- Risk greater uncertainty and delay for developers, builders and farmers, as local permitting offices and staff familiar with site conditions are replaced by distant regional structures, making it more difficult for applicants to obtain timely local advice, resolve condition issues or expedite housing and infrastructure approvals that support the Province’s “Build Faster” agenda; and
WHEREAS the QCA has already undertaken significant modernization work aligned with the
provincial objectives, including:
- Numerous internal reviews to identify opportunities for cost savings and efficiencies, including the consolidation of 3 local Conservation Authorities within the Watershed into a single Authority;
- Conversion of redundant and non-mandatory positions to frontline, mandatory service positions;
- Improvements in transparency and client communications
- Strong local representation of all municipalities that reside within the entire Watershed; Demonstrating that meaningful modernization can occur within the current watershed-based governance framework; and
WHEREAS Council recognizes that the Quinte Conservation Authority serves a multitude of Eastern Ontario communities facing vastly different climatic, hydrological and infrastructure realities, and being surrounded by the Bay of Quinte, Lake Ontario and a number of local lakes, with properties subject to coastal erosion and flood-prone areas, which would be ill-served by a larger overarching administrative structure extending over more than 28,000 square kilometres;
THEREFORE BE IS RESOLVED THAT:
- The Municipality of the City of Belleville does not support the proposed “Eastern Lake Ontario Regional Conservation Authority” boundary configuration in Environmental Registry Notice 025-1257; and
- The City of Belleville instead endorses further provincial evaluation of a more focused, specific model as a geographically coherent, cost effective and locally accountable alternative that advances the government’s priorities of efficiency, red-tape reduction and timely housing delivery; and
- The City of Belleville requests that the Ministry engage directly with affected municipalities and conservation authorities across Eastern Ontario before finalizing any consolidation boundaries and legislative amendments; and
- That this resolution, with a letter from the Mayor, be forwarded to the Environmental Registry of Ontario consultations and to:
The Minister of the Environment, Conservation and Parks and his Opposition Critics;
MPP Tyler Allsopp, Bay of Quinte;
MPP Ric Bresee, Hastings, Lennox & Addington;
Warden Bob Mullin, Hastings County
Chief R.Don Maracle, Mohawks of the Bay of Quinte;
Association of Municipalities of Ontario;
CAO Brad McNevin, Quinte Conservation Authority
Conservation Ontario;
