The Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority (NPCA) and its supporters are upset that the Ontario government is reducing the powers of the conservation authorities. They argue that “Part of the proposed legislation would strip a municipality’s ability to appoint citizens, which I think is very problematic.”
As I recall the last iteration of the Conservation Authorities Act under Premiers McGuinty and Wynne, it specified that only those with educational qualifications in environmental studies could serve on CA boards. It also decreed that the Ontario government could replace municipal government councils with its own appointees.
The act therefore restricted CA board membership to professional “green” activists, and denied elected municipal councils the right to attend CA board meetings to try to restrain the excessively heavy tax bills imposed by the CAs on the municipalities.
Premier Ford’s amendments to the draconian McGuinty-Wynne acts and regulations are a breath of fresh air. We citizens can now discover what our CAs do, instead of losing the use of our farmlands to those who would return it to wilderness.