Conservatives and conservation: an uneasy mix

When a government releases a proposal on Halloween, which also happens to be the day of a pivotal World Series game, it’s not looking for a lot of attention — precisely the opposite, in fact. But we need to keep sight of the province’s plans to consolidate Ontario’s conservation authorities and create a new oversight body.

Conservation authorities are based on watersheds rather than political boundaries. (A watershed is an area of land that drains into the same rivers and lakes.) They operate in ecozones from rocky Canadian Shield country to intensively farmed lowlands to densely populated cities.

Conservation authorities often include parts of several different municipalities — in our case, not just Kawartha Lakes but also five others plus a First Nation. By focusing on a watershed, conservation authorities can champion water quality, good land use planning and environmental monitoring across artificial boundaries.

Most people’s main interaction with a conservation authority is the natural lands they manage that greatly enrich our lives. If you’ve ever enjoyed the view at Windy Ridge or Fleetwood Creek conservation areas or walked the dog or fed chickadees at Ken Reid CA, you’ve appreciated the work of Kawartha Conservation.

The provincial government plans to reduce the number of conservation authorities from 36 to just seven. The first reason given? That the new body will “help get shovels in the ground faster on homes.” If you’re hearing alarm bells, you’re not alone.

New home construction is important, but amalgamating conservation authorities to speed up development does not bode well for our water, wetlands and natural spaces. And given the greenbelt development scandal, it’s not like Premier Doug Ford has given us much reason to trust him on this file.

Yes, there are varying levels of service and technical ability, different standards and policies, among those conservation areas. And yes, collaboration to create a common booking system, for instance, makes a lot of sense.

But does Ontario really need another level of bureaucracy in the form of the proposed Ontario Provincial Conservation Agency? And can seven gigantic organizations really keep good track of what’s happening at ground — and groundwater — level around the province? How does a bigger conservation authority based out of, say, Orillia or Oshawa ensure effective stewardship of the farmland, alvars, lakes, marshes and rivers of Kawartha Lakes? Perhaps most importantly of all, how do we ensure that developers don’t get to rewrite the rules altogether?

Keep an eye on this one. Our beloved conservation areas and those who run them deserve our attention, especially when the government is trying to divert it.