The Ontario government has just launched an all-out attack on Ontario’s protected forests and wetlands.
Environmental Defense Canada along with Ontario Nature and CELA (Canadian Environmental Law Association) alerted citizens to the fact that the Ontario Government has hidden a clause in the recent Budget Bill 229.
The hidden clause, Schedule 6 (see below), will take away any control over the protection of our precious wetlands, forests, wildlife habitat and natural spaces from Conservation Authorities, and give huge new powers to developers to push through destructive projects.
We need Conservation Authorities!
In the words of Environmental Defence, “Worse, by sneaking through these changes buried in a budget bill, the government is avoiding public consultation that is normally required on laws that impact the environment.
That’s why we need every MPP to hear about this so that they push to remove schedule 6, which guts Conservation Authorities, from the budget Bill.
Conservation Authorities are a vital line of defense for the natural spaces that mitigate flood risk, provide precious land for hiking, fishing and escape into nature and provide essential habitat for the many species of wildlife, including endangered species that call Ontario home.
If we lose these spaces, we can’t get them back.
Please exercise your democratic rights to demand responsibility and accountability for the environment and future generations.
Contact your local Oakville MPP, and ask them to drop Schedule 6 from Budget Bill 229 that will sacrifice decades of environmental protection.
Elected officials to email:
MPP Effie Triantafilopoulos – Oakville North-Burlington
MPP Stephen Crawford - Oakville
Premier Doug Ford
Minister of the Environment, Conservation & Parks: Jeff Yurek
Minister Municipal Affairs & Housing: Steve Clark
SCHEDULE 6 CONSERVATION AUTHORITIES ACT
The Schedule amends the Conservation Authorities Act. The more significant amendments are described below.
Section 14 of the Act is amended to ensure that the members of a conservation authority that are appointed by participating municipalities are municipal councillors. The Minister is given the authority to appoint an additional member to a conservation authority to represent the agricultural sector.
The objects of a conservation authority described in section 20 of the Act are limited to the provision of programs and services required or permitted under sections 21.1, 21.1.1 and 21.1.2. Section 21.1 requires an authority to provide mandatory programs and services that are prescribed by regulation and meet the requirements set out in that section. Section 21.1.1 allows authorities to enter into agreements with participating municipalities to provide programs and services on behalf of the municipalities, subject to the regulations. Section 21.1.2 would allow authorities to provide such other programs and services as it determines are advisable to further the purposes of the Act, subject to the regulations. An authority is required to enter into agreements with the participating municipalities in its jurisdiction if any municipal funding is needed to recover costs for the programs or services provided under section 21.1.2. A transition plan shall be developed by an authority to prepare for entering into agreements relating to the recovery of costs. All programs and services must be provided in accordance with any prescribed standards and requirements.
Section 21.2 of the Act allows a person who is charged a fee for a program or services provided by an authority to apply to the authority to reconsider the fee. Section 21.2 is amended to require the authority make a decision upon reconsideration of a fee within 30 days. Further, the amendments allow a person to appeal the decision to the Local Planning Appeal Tribunal or to bring the matter directly to the Tribunal if the authority fails to render a decision within 30 days.
New sections 23.2 and 23.3 of the Act would allow the Minister to take certain actions after reviewing a report on an investigation into an authority’s operations. The Minister may order the authority to do anything to prevent or remedy non- compliance with the Act. The Minister may also recommend that the Lieutenant Governor in Council appoint an administrator to take over the control and operations of the authority.
Subsection 28.1 (8) of the Act currently allows a person who applied to a conservation authority for a permit under subsection 28.1 (1) to appeal that decision to the Minister if the authority has refused the permit or issued it subject to conditions. Subsection 28.1 (8) is repealed and replaced with provisions that allow the applicant to choose to seek a review of the authority’s decision by the Minister or, if the Minister does not conduct such a review, to appeal the decision to the Local Planning Appeal Tribunal within 90 days after the decision is made. Furthermore, if the authority fails to make a decision with respect to an application within 120 days after the application is submitted, the applicant may appeal the application directly to the Tribunal.
New section 28.1.1 of the Act allows the Minister to order a conservation authority not to issue a permit to engage in an activity that, without the permit, would be prohibited under section 28 of the Act. After making such an order the Minister may issue the permit instead of the conservation authority.
Section 28.3 of the Act is amended to allow a decision of a conservation authority to cancel a permit or to make another decision under subsection 28.3 (5) to be appealed by the permit holder to the Local Planning Appeal Tribunal.
Subsection 30.2 of the Act sets out circumstances in which an officer may enter land within the area of jurisdictions of an authority. Those circumstances are revised by section 19 of the Schedule.
Section 30.4 of the Act is repealed. That section, which has not yet been proclaimed and which would have given officers the power to issue stop orders to persons carrying on activities that could contravene or are contravening the Act, is repealed.
The regulation making authority in section 40 is re-enacted to reflect amendments in the Schedule.
