At a time when we are all dealing with a worsening deadly coronavirus pandemic, this government has chosen to accelerate an ongoing harmful agenda to strip the NPCA and conservation authorities across Ontario of its citizen appointees, in direct opposition to the recommendations of the 2018 Ontario Auditor General’s Report.
Under these new changes buried in Bill 229, developers will be allowed to bypass restrictions put into place by conservation authorities including the Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority, an organization that citizens spent many years cleaning up with a new board and most notably committed citizens concerned with our environment and the protection of wetlands.
These citizen board members help to ensure that elected officials will not put their own municipal goals and needs or those of developers ahead of those of the conservation authority.
Full Letter to Premier Ford and Minister of the Environment, Conservation and Parks Yurek