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Ontario’s recent omnibus Bill 229, ostensibly directed at addressing the COVID-19 pandemic and its economic consequences, contains provisions which effectively strip Ontario conservation authorities of certain permitting powers, redirecting them to the Ministry of Natural Resources and other public bodies. Various environmental groups, as well as members of Ontario’s Greenbelt Council, allege this aspect of the bill, which became law on December 8th, 2020, was a political effort to benefit property developers at the cost of science-based environmental conservation.
The issue stems from a decision by the province originally codified in its 1946 Conservation Authorities Act. The Act permitted municipalities (at least two or more) to create local public-sector organizations called conservation authorities. These would act as stewards of local water and other natural resources. Today, conservation authority activities also encompass protecting communities from flooding and natural hazards, science and research, environmental education, and land use planning.
Bill 229 makes a number of changes with respect to the powers and jurisdiction of conservation authorities. Most of these are fairly technical changes with respect to procedures for appealing conservation authority decisions, generally resulting in diminished conservation authority jurisdiction and expanded landowner appeal rights.
The clearest and most concerning change in the law concerns permitting. Conservation authorities have long held authority to grant or refuse development permits in regulated areas. Conservation authorities’ decisions were subject to appeal to the Minister of Natural Resources, but the Minister would rarely disturb a conservation authority’s decision. Section 6 of Bill 229, however, changes this by authorizing the Minister of Natural Resources to simply decide a permit application in place of the conservation authority in the first place.
The result of this change in the law allows a pro-development provincial government to usurp permitting power from conservation authorities. The argument in favour of this is that conservation authorities are too focused on conservation and don’t give adequate consideration to the economic benefits to be derived from development. The counterargument is conservation authorities are localized and responsive to community concerns regarding natural resources and heritage; ministers in Queen’s Park are not.
Despite the amended law not affecting conservation authority over the province’s Greenbelt, in the lead-up to Bill 229’s passage, over half of the Greenbelt Council, which advises the government on issues related to the Greenbelt, resigned in protest over the bill. In a written statement, former Greenbelt Council chair David Crombie said he resigned for reasons including Bill 229’s “severely crippl[ing] the Conservation Authorities in the pursuit of their historic stewardship of environmental issues.”