Less voice for the same cost: Chair shares concerns about conservation authority changes

Luke Edwards, Post Contributor

Lower-tier municipalities in Oxford will lose a voice on conservation matters as the province moves forward with legislation consolidating the agencies across the province, the chair of the Upper Thames River Conservation Authority told Norwich councillors at the May 12 meeting.

But while they won’t have as much of a say on such issues, Brian Petrie - who’s also the mayor of Ingersoll - local taxpayers will still be on the hook financially.

“The province is taking all the say and we’re basically getting stuck with the bill,” he said.

As part of the changes, the Upper Thames authority will be consolidated with others to create a new Western Lake Erie Regional Conservation Authority. Governance will be restricted to upper-tier and single-tier municipalities only.

Petrie said the new governance rules means townships like Norwich will lose a voice, while a small single tier municipality like Pelee Township will have their own representation. In addition to the larger areas authorities will cover, Petrie said much of the policy will be dictated by a recently created provincial board.

“We’re still going to pay a big portion of the cost but it’s really frustrating when you have no say,” said Coun. Lynne DePlancke.

In Oxford, it will be the upper tier municipality that pays the bills. Additionally, Petrie said he expects there will be significant transition costs the county will have to help pay.

Petrie said they did offer some feedback and participated in regional roundtables, though he said it didn’t appear the province was particularly interested in hearing what they had to say.

“To me consultation is back and forth and active input, and there wasn’t any of that available,” he said.

In the meantime, Petrie said they can’t make any big decisions and have essentially been told by the Province to just run the day-to-day operations. They will try to support CA staff in what’s an uncertain and tumultuous time for them.

The Province hopes to have the new CAs running by next February.