AMO's Submission on Proposed Regional Consolidation of Conservation Authorities
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- AMO submitted four recommendations to the province on its proposal to consolidate the existing 36 conservation authorities (CAs) into seven regional CAs and the creation of a provincial oversight agency – the Ontario Provincial Conservation Agency (OPCA).
- We urged the province to maintain and prioritize local governance, expertise and decision making in CA consolidation, fund transition costs to mitigate service delivery impacts, restore a 50-50 municipal funding partnership that reflects increased provincial authority over CA operations, and potentially its fees and establish an implementation working to develop options that would deliver on the province’s consolidation objectives while protecting local decision making and municipal fiscal sustainability.
AMO’s Submission on Proposed Conservation Authority Consolidation and Creation of Provincial Oversight Body
In late October, the province announced plans of two transformative changes to Ontario’s CA system. These changes are part of a suite of broader legislative and regulatory changes intended to facilitate getting more homes built, through reduced regulatory burden and speedier regulatory approvals.
The first change would see the creation of a provincial oversight body, the Ontario Provincial Conservation Agency (OPCA). The agency’s mandate includes powers to issue binding guidelines on CA performance, standards, and asset management. The OPCA’s funding will be a mix of provincial funding, service fees, and cost recovery from CAs.
The second change, if adopted, would create seven regional CAs by merging the existing 36 CAs. The proposed regional boundaries of the new mega CAs are based on natural watershed systems, keeping existing CA boundaries intact where possible, and aligning source protection regions.
AMO supports the province’s goal to streamline and improve the land development services provided by CAs as it takes concrete action to build more homes and growth enabling infrastructure. AMO is concerned that the scale and pace of the proposed changes, when undertaken without prior consultation with affected stakeholders including the municipal sector and CAs, risks increasing regulatory burden and costs. The changes also erode responsive local decision making, including permitting time.
Given these concerns, AMO’s recommendations to the province are centered on greater and collaborative stakeholder engagement that’s foundational to addressing the governance and funding challenges in the current proposal. Specifically, we urge the province to:
- Maintain and prioritize local governance, expertise and decision making in CA consolidation
- Fund transition costs to mitigate service delivery impacts
- Restore a 50-50 municipal funding partnership that reflects increased provincial authority over CA operations, and potentially its fees, and
- Collaborate on creating an implementation working group that would develop options, and group membership would include AMO, Conservation Ontario, select CAs and municipalities, developers, and Indigenous communities.
