A new plan from the provincial government to overhaul Ontario’s conservation authority system is drawing concern from some local officials, particularly over a proposal that would remove townships from conservation authority boards.
The province announced Tuesday, it intends to consolidate Ontario’s 36 conservation authorities into nine larger regional agencies. Environment Minister Todd McCarthy says the changes are meant to streamline decision-making, reduce duplication and help get housing and infrastructure projects moving faster.
"Ontario’s improved approach would feature watershed-based regional conservation authorities operating under consistent provincial standards," McCarthy said in a media release. "Delivering stronger watershed management, flood resilience and better support for housing and infrastructure growth."
But buried within the plan is a change that could significantly alter how conservation authorities are governed, especially in rural areas like Midwestern Ontario.
Under the proposal, lower-tier municipalities such as towns and townships would no longer be participating municipalities in conservation authorities. Instead, board members would be appointed by upper-tier governments such as counties and regional municipalities.
For areas like Grey, Bruce, Perth, Huron and Northern Wellington, where many communities are organized as townships, that could mean a major shift in how local voices are represented.
Ed McGughan, chair of the Maitland Valley Conservation Authority, says that detail immediately stood out during a briefing with provincial officials.
"The very fact that lower-tier municipalities would no longer be participating municipalities, that’s the exact wording they used," McGughan said. "The whole board of the Maitland Valley Conservation Authority right now are representatives from our local lower-tier municipalities. Well, that’ll be gone."
Instead, counties would appoint members to the new regional boards.
"That means that Huron County and Bruce County and Grey County will be providing members from the county level," McGughan said. "No longer will townships like North Huron or South Bruce be providing people to the board of the conservation authority. That’s a major change, literally a fundamental change."
The province says conservation programs themselves would remain the same, including flood management, watershed protection and development permitting. Oversight of the system would fall to the newly created Ontario Provincial Conservation Agency, which would coordinate the transition and provide province-wide governance.
But McGughan says the scale of the proposed regional authorities (and the governance model tied to population) could leave rural areas with less influence.
"We’re going to be in a regional conservation authority that covers a big area of agricultural and small-town southern Ontario," he said. "If decisions on the board are weighted by population, we’re concerned about whether rural Ontario is going to have any representation at all."
Loss of local knowledge is another concern.
"One of the things people really appreciate about their conservation authority is that they know the watershed," McGughan said. "They know what’s happening in the creeks and rivers and they can go out and see it. When you start talking about an authority that covers tens of thousands of square kilometres, the question is whether you keep that local knowledge."
West Grey Mayor and Saugeen Valley Conservation Authority board member Kevin Eccles says the geographic scope alone could make the new system difficult to manage.
"For our area it’s still very large," Eccles said. "It takes from Exeter to Orillia and everything in between."
Eccles says the shift from locally governed conservation authorities to large regional boards could weaken the role communities currently play in setting priorities.
"The major concern is, is bigger always better?" he said. "Instead of 36 conservation authorities looking after certain watersheds, that local experience and input on governance and strategic models is going to be lost."
He also questions whether a standardized system can properly reflect the differences between regions across Ontario.
"The province wants conservation authorities to be uniform across the province," Eccles said. "But things are different in Thunder Bay than they are in Lake Huron, and they’re a lot different than in eastern Ontario."
Erik Downing, general manager of the Saugeen Valley Conservation Authority, said the proposed changes mark the beginning of a major transition.
"Conservation authorities have been a part of my entire career, and it’s a system I’ve always been proud to work in," Downing said. "The strength of the model has always been its focus on watershed science and collaboration with local municipalities. As the Province moves forward, our focus will be on ensuring those strengths continue to serve the communities we protect."
The province says consultation on the plan last fall led to some changes, including increasing the number of proposed regional authorities from seven to nine and adjusting their boundaries.
Eccles notes that change but says the proposed regions remain extremely large.
"Transitioning from local input and local authority to these nine regional boards...it’s a big shift," he said.
The province is aiming to have the new regional conservation authorities in place by early 2027, with $3 million in annual funding set aside to help manage the transition.
But Eccles says that timeline could also create challenges for municipalities.
"The timeline of getting this done is extremely aggressive," he said. "They want to see the new regional boards in place by February 2027, and that’s right in the middle of a municipal election cycle."
The latest announcement builds on a proposal first introduced last year. In December, the Grey Sauble Conservation Authority warned that large-scale amalgamation could erode local accountability and disrupt frontline services such as flood forecasting and development permitting.
While some local officials agree the current system could use improvements, McGughan says replacing it entirely may create new problems.
"The 36 conservation authorities...were they perfect? Maybe not," he said. "But they were local, they were representational, and they were based on watersheds. When you make them much larger and further away from the people, I think communities are going to lose something."
