UTRCA expects significant costs for consolidation
- 2 hours ago
- 3 min read
CONNOR LUCZKA, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
While staff and the board of directors for the Upper Thames River Conservation Authority (UTRCA) don’t anticipate cuts to service levels or relative funding for the area, they do expect a significant cost born from the plan to consolidate the province’s 36 conservation areas (CAs) into regional authorities.
“There’s lots of moving parts with this,” said Tracy Annett, general manager of the UTRCA, at its March 24 meeting. “... There’s still a lot of detail expected to come, and those details being through amendments to the Conservation Authorities Act.
“... We recognize there’s going to be significant costs for transition,” Annett went on to say. “Everything from IT systems, rebranding, policy and staffing harmonization. I look at the $3 million across the province and don’t think that’s quite adequate.”
The $3 million Annett was referring to is the fund the Province of Ontario will endow to the newly created Provincial Conservation Agency (OPCA), which will oversee the transition of CAs into their regional counterparts. As she said, that fund is meant to assist all 36 conservation authorities.
The OPCA was created late last year, when the province also indicated its desire to consolidate its CAs. Through Bill 68, the Plan to Protect Ontario Act, an amendment to the Conservation Authorities Act established the OPCA and proposed to create seven regional CAs. At that time, it was proposed that the UTRCA be consolidated with eight other conservation authorities into the Lake Erie Regional Conservation Authority.
Since then, the province has amended its plan. It is now proposing to consolidate the UTRCA with the Lower Thames Valley Conservation Authority (LTVCA), the St. Clair Region Conservation Authority (SCRCA) and the Essex Region Conservation Authority (ERCA) to create the Western Lake Erie Regional Conservation Authority (WLERCA), one of nine regional CAs.
While there has been significant public pushback due to a fear of waning local representation and service delivery, including from the UTRCA’s board of directors, the Ministry of Environment, Conservation and Parks is arguing amalgamation is a necessity that won’t impede local voices and will better service delivery.
Under the current system, more than half of all municipalities served by a CA exist in the jurisdictions of two or more CAs, meaning much of the work they do is being repeated. By amalgamating, the province means to have a more consistent and efficient workflow across CAs. Additionally, in line with feedback and representation-fears, the province is now mandating regional CAs establish at least one “Watershed Council” to ensure watershed management is done by local expertise.
“The intent is not to shut down conservation authorities,” chair Brian Petrie reminded the board when the 2027 budget was brought up during discussion. “It’s to keep them going, and all the rhetoric and all the messaging has been the same service level. My guess is that the province wants those budgets in place to give the regional (CA) time to be able to do the ... transition work.
“... There’s certainly a lot of questions on that and concerns,” Petrie said. “... People have contributed a lot of funds, we all have as individual municipalities, towards a common goal. And I think that’s going to be shared. Regardless of what conservation authority is going into different regions, I think everybody’s going to have that concern of: that money was raised locally for local purposes within the watershed. I don’t think you’re going to have too many bodies fighting each other on that one.
“... There’s going to be a lot more information. There’s going to have to be a tsunami of information come forward at some point, so we’re going to get it whether we want it or not.”
The establishment of the regional CAs is expected for early 2027. As Petrie said, more information will be released in the coming months.
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