It’s time to stand up for our local conservation authority. Staff at South Nation Conservation know the soils, drainage, flood risk and people of far Eastern Ontario. They deliver timely reviews and permitting for housing and infrastructure developments. Our municipal councils fund them and rely on them for environmental advice. They steward the conservation lands that people donate for the public good.
We could lose South Nation Conservation. The Ontario government proposes to replace local conservation authorities with a few large, provincially controlled agencies. This would remove local decision-making from agencies that are funded and governed by municipalities. It threatens watershed-based science which is essential for managing floods, drought, erosion and water quality. It transfers donated conservation lands to distant provincial control.
South Nation Conservation says this proposal represents the most significant environmental governance overhaul in Ontario in 80 years and raises serious concerns for communities across Eastern Ontario. The Ontario government says that more centralized regional authorities would be more efficient but offers no plan to show they would be better.
I vote for community. If the price of community is inconvenience, or someone else’s idea of inefficiency, so be it. In our relationships with people and environment, community is essential.
Lynn Ovenden
Casselman
