Happy almost-80th UTRCA!

Brian Petrie, Ingersoll mayor and UTRCA board of directors chair, speaks to Stratford city council on the upcoming consolidation of Ontario’s conservation authorities at its May 26 meeting.

CONNOR LUCZKA, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

If the Upper Thames River Conservation Authority (UTRCA) makes it to 2027, it will officially be 80 years old – though that milestone is looking more distant than ever nowadays.

As previously reported by the Times and near every media organization in the province, the UTRCA is set to consolidate with the Lower Thames Valley Conservation Authority (LTVCA), the St. Clair Region Conservation Authority (SCRCA) and the Essex Region Conservation Authority (ERCA) to form the Western Lake Erie Regional Conservation Authority (WLERCA). Instead of being one of 36 provincial conservation authorities (CA), the UTRCA will become a component of one of nine total regional CAs.

At the most recent Stratford city council meeting on May 26, Ingersoll mayor and UTRCA board of directors chair Brian Petrie spoke about the impact the upcoming conservation authority merger will have on our local CA and the City of Stratford.

With an already full paper and a few other pressing topics, I didn’t write about his presentation in this week’s edition. Not only did we already have a full paper with a few other pressing topics, but I have previously covered most of what he said in the published articles: “‘This is just chaos’: UTRCA board opposes consolidation of conservation authorities” and “UTRCA expects significant costs for consolidation.” Both articles can be found on our website granthaven.com with a quick search of “UTRCA” in the search bar.

As mentioned, Petrie didn’t add much to what has previously been covered, though he did have a few choice words for the process. Among them were:

“Your influence is going to be diluted. There's no doubt about that, and some of the bigger issues is that you know UTRCA as a whole, in the 1990s when they were made smaller, the effort was to balance that rural and urban voice, and so that local voice really does matter… There’s large urban centres and there's large rural centres within the watershed, and balancing out both those priorities, so they're both listened to, is very important. We just don't want that to be drowned out, but that is a risk that we will see.”

And:

“They (the Ontario Provincial Conservation Agency) have full control, they can direct everybody to do what they want. In fact … as far as the strategic planning process, it has to align with the provincial objectives. There's nothing in there about any local objectives. The provincial government has said they do not want to see any frontline positions affected, especially after the day before the transition, the day before will look extremely similar, but they've also said that they want to see different service levels change, so it's hard to tell exactly where that'll go till we get the information.”

And, of course:

“Any lower tier municipality … will receive a bill for the 2027 budget, but they will have no representation directly on the board.”

As noted by the province, there are some key shortcomings associated with the current system that should be addressed. More than half of municipalities fall under the jurisdiction of two or more CAs, each with different policies, standards, fees, staffing levels and technical capabilities, meaning there is unpredictable and inconsistent turnaround times for approvals, uncertainty and delays for builders, property owners and municipalities seeking permits, a risk of undermining the ability to protect communities from floods and natural hazards, unnecessary administrative duplication that diverts resources from front-line conservation work and disparities in size of resources and access to the latest tools and technology, according to the province’s website.

As Petrie said, there is still so much information to be shared until consolidation comes, and this is not the final piece I will write about it, no doubt, but Petrie also began his presentation by telling council, the gallery and the wider public that they will need to be good communicators. By my estimation, that is certainly true – though the province will also have to be good listeners.