Heather Wright/The Independent

Ontario is moving ahead with changes to conservation authorities, merging 36 agencies into nine in a bid to harmonize regulation and make it easier for developers to get housing projects approved.

In Lambton, boundary change being met with guarded optimism with the head of the St. Clair Region Conservation Authority saying the new regions may be the “best case scenario.” 

The plan to amalgamate the flood-control organizations drew wide-spread criticism from environmentalists, who say the authorities main duty is to prevent flooding and protect wildlife habitat, to municipal leaders, who argued the province only provides two per cent of the funding and should not be able to merge the organizations.

Todd McCarthy, Minister of the Environment, Conservation and Parks said Tuesday the province move ahead, creating nine regional bodies instead of seven it planned after consultations in the fall “refined and strengthened our plan, including optimizing regional boundaries to better reflect local needs.” 

The Lake Erie region, which stretched into Elgin and Norfolk  is split in two, with St. Clair joining the Windsor-Essex, and Upper and Lower Thames Conservation Authorities.

“This is the best case scenario for us,” said Ken Phillips, general manager of the St. Clair Region.  “It does reduce the size of the area and we do have a solid working relationship with those three conservation authorities so it should be a good collaboration.” 

he province also plans to hire regional CAO’s for the new bodies, although Phillips says it is not clear if current general managers, like himself, will be able to apply for the jobs.

The minister also announced how municipalities would be involved in the new structure. There will be regional boards – called watershed councils – of between 15 and 20 people. They’ll be appointed by regional governments – for example Lambton County – not municipalities as in the past. With the boards being limited in size, Phillips says Lambton – including Sarnia – may only have four representatives. There are 18 people on the St. Clair board now. 

The province says the funding of the authorities will remain the same; municipal governments will continue to collect the money needed to run the services.

It will take longer to implement the changes; the province planned to have the new regional authorities in place for October to coincide with the municipal elections. It now says it will be mid-2027.

 The Ontario Provincial Conservation Authority, created last year, will be given $3 million a year in funding to lead the mergers.

Phillips says while the province says its moving forward, he still has “more questions than answers.” He’s been told there will be an opportunity for those questions in the near future.

“The question I would have directly for the Minister, if given the opportunity, would be; there are currently tens of thousands of homes that already have permits in place, already have servicing in place, that haven’t put on shovel in the ground. I would like to know how that’s the fault of conservation authorities?” he said. “Please justify why none of these homes are being built when we’ve already given them permits to build.”

 Municipalities have been vocal critics of the plan, with Dawn-Euphemia Mayor Al Broad calling for the mergers to be stopped. In an email Tuesday, Plympton-Wyoming Councillor Kristen Rodrigues said she’s still concerned St. Clair is not part of a watershed which includes Lake Huron.