More investigation calls
Pressure is building for a re-examination of provincial legislation that has weakened Conservation Authorities and banned them from providing ecological advice to city governments. Last week the board of the Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority (NPCA) unanimously asked the Auditor-General to investigate the changes imposed at the end of last year.
The resolution was moved and seconded by two Hamilton councillors – Brad Clark and Mark Tadeson – in response to one adopted last month by the Hamilton Conservation Authority (HCA). The two CAs together manage watersheds covering most of the city of Hamilton. These include Spencer Creek, Twenty Mile Creek and Red Hill Creek and their tributaries, along with portions of the Welland River and other local streams.
Citizen board member Brian McHattie moved the HCA motion, unanimously supported at their September board meeting. He pointed to the “significant and extremely damaging changes” imposed on Conservation Authorities over the last two years which also removed consideration of water pollution from their permitting authority.
McHattie argued that “protecting natural heritage and mitigating/adapting for climate change has never been more important in light of the sixth mass extinction in biodiversity and the increasing possibility that Canada and the world will not meet the Paris Accord greenhouse gas target limiting temperature rise to less than 1.5 degrees Celsius.”
The provincial changes were mainly part of last fall’s Bill 23 and included a drastic re-write of the Ontario Wetland Evaluation System which NPCA staff said will eliminate protections on virtually all wetlands in their jurisdiction. The re-write got rid of the category of ‘wetland complexes’ that applies to nearly all those that historically have been strongly protected as provincially significant. It also banned the use of the designation ‘significant species’ in determining wetland importance.
In addition, Bill 23 slashed some of the growth fees collected by municipal governments, a move estimated by the Association of Municipalities of Ontario to transfer $1 billion to land developers. This legislative change is being blamed for about a third of proposed property tax hikes in Hamilton.
The legislation was unveiled shortly after the removal of 7400 acres from the Greenbelt and forced urban boundary expansions in multiple municipalities. It came from the same housing minister, Steve Clark, and his chief of staff Ryan Amato. Both of these officials have since resigned in disgrace and their changes to both the Greenbelt and urban boundaries have been rescinded as an RCMP investigation unfolds. The latter was spurred by damning reports from the Auditor-General and the provincial Integrity Commissioner.
Those reports and their repercussions spurred the board of the Hamilton Conservation Authority to initiate the call for an Auditor-General review of the multiple Bill 23 changes forced on the watershed management agencies. The HCA board resolution has been circulated to local MPPs and the other 35 conservation authorities across the province. It’s arrival on the NPCA agenda gave Clark the opportunity to move his endorsement motion. He noted the Auditor-General has received the HCA request “and is considering it”.
The NPCA motion came just in advance of the provincial promise to restore the urban boundaries asked for by municipal governments. It has been revealed that some of the provincial changes imposed on municipalities were copied word-for-word from developer requests.
The reports of the Auditor-General and the Integrity Commissioner on the Greenbelt removals also exposed direct developer influence on government policy. Changes in the role and weakening the authority of conservation authorities, especially in Bill 23, similarly appear to primarily benefit land developers.
