What to know
- Mayors Carolyn Parrish, Patrick Brown, and Annette Groves are strongly opposing Ontario’s plan to merge 36 conservation authorities into nine.
- The Ontario Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks says consolidation would reduce red tape and speed up housing and infrastructure development.
- Municipal leaders warn the move could disrupt permitting, delay housing projects, and create public safety risks, particularly around flood forecasting and watershed management.
- The mayors are urging the province to pause the plan and preserve Credit Valley Conservation, citing its strong performance and fast permit turnaround times.
The Mayors of Mississauga, Brampton and Caledon are urging the Ontario government to consider pausing plans to merge 36 of its conservation authorities into nine, citing several possible risks to the cities.
Last month, the Ontario government announced plans to rework the province’s conservation authority system by consolidating its conservation authorities.
These authorities are public organizations administered by Ontario’s Ministry of Environment, Conservation and Parks, that develop watershed-based resource management plans in the province. Ontario’s current system includes 36 independent authorities, which have different policies and processes.
According to the province, the system has created “inconsistent standards and timelines” that have been making it difficult for the authorities to carry out their mission of preventing floods and natural hazards.
By consolidating them into nine regional authorities, the province says it aims to help push forward its efforts to cut red tape and accelerate development by redirecting resources and reducing administrative duplication.
“Ontario’s improved approach would feature watershed-based regional conservation authorities operating under consistent provincial standards, modern tools and strengthened capacity – delivering stronger watershed management, flood resilience and better support for housing and infrastructure growth,” Minister of the Environment, Conservation and Parks Todd McCarthy, said in a statement.
The province created an Ontario Provincial Conservation Agency (OPCA) last fall to address these concerns.
If the government successfully passes a proposal for the changes, the OPCA would coordinate the transition, with the full consolidation being delivered by early 2027.
Cities strongly oppose plan
Although the province says the move would enable more consistent decision-making and strengthen watershed management, some municipalities in Ontario are not on board with it.
In response to the proposal, Mississauga Mayor Carolyn Parrish, Brampton Mayor Patrick Brown, and Caledon Mayor Annette Groves wrote to McCarthy expressing “strong opposition” to the plan.
In their letter, the mayors said restructuring the system could pose significant risks to their municipalities, including:
- Disrupting established permit processes, which could slow housing approvals and delay work;
- Public safety risks as permitting, floodplain mapping and forecasting process could be disrupted;
- Loss of expertise, and the local conservation authorities currently provide highly-specialized programs, including ice-jam management, in-house flooding forecasting, and watershed modelling;
- Weakening precise, local, and responsive programs municipalities rely on, and switching them into an one-size-fits all system;
- Political instability, as the Niagara Region Conservation Authority is currently going through a governance review.
The mayors said that while they support the province’s goals of improving service delivery and accelerating development, the current Credit Valley Conservation (CVC) already achieves these outcomes and overcomes performance expectations. According to them, the average permit response time for CVC is 14 days, which is way below the provincial 90 day requirement.
If the plan moves forward, the CVC would be merged with three other conservation authorities, according to the letter.
The mayors are now urging McCarthy to consider pausing the legislation and completing a full consultation with municipalities before moving forward, and preserving the CVC as is.
“The Region of Peel condemns the proposed amalgamation of Credit Valley Conservation and firmly opposes any changes to CVC’s existing governance structure,” they wrote.
“Our municipalities are united in the view that CVC’s current model—local, accountable, and responsive—must remain intact to protect public safety, support efficient development, and preserve the high-performing watershed management system that our municipalities and residents rely on.”
In response to the province’s plans, office of Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow tells Now Toronto the mayor is “working closely with the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority, to identify any potential impacts and ensure Toronto is well served.”
