Ontario’s environment minister can’t say if his planned overhaul of the province’s conservation authorities will be fast-tracked through the legislature and bypass committee, as the Ford government packs the agenda for a shortened fall sitting.
Last Friday, Minister of the Environment, Conservation and Parks, Todd McCarthy, announced he would be creating a new central agency to oversee the province’s conservation authorities, which will be amalgamated from 36 bodies into seven.
The changes are set to be introduced in the form of two pieces of legislation, he said, the first of which will likely be tabled sometime in the fall.
The first piece of legislation, which has not yet been tabled, will create the Ontario Provincial Conservation Authority, tasked with bringing uniformity to a “fragmented, inconsistent and outdated” system.
A second bill, likely to be brought forward in the spring, would deal with the minutiae of reducing 36 agencies down to seven, where maps would be redrawn and how the new system would be operationalized.
When he announced the move on Friday, McCarthy emphasized the fact that he would consult through the process of creating the new agency and amalgamating others to ensure it was smooth and successful.
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Asked on Monday, however, if he would commit to not speeding the planned bills through the legislature or bypassing committee hearings, McCarthy could not say.
“Obviously, normally, legislation does go to committee,” he told Global News. “But whether this or the next piece of legislation goes to the committee or not, I promise fulsome consultations and I promise we will continue to listen.”
The Ford government shortened the fall sitting by delaying the return of MPPs to Queen’s Park by more than a month and has already used its majority powers to skip public hearings altogether on a bill to remove speed cameras.
During the spring sitting, the budget was selected to skip committee hearings, while new legislation on Ontario Place did the same last December.
Ontario Green Party Leader Mike Schreiner said the potentially major implications of the conservation authority overhaul meant extensive committee sessions were necessary.
“If you’re going to do something so devastating to conservation authorities’ ability to protect us from flood, we need to hear from the public, the public’s lives, property and infrastructure are at risk and we need to ensure that whatever moves the government makes has lots of public input — and committee is an essential part of that,” he said.
Last week, McCarthy and officials with his ministry outlined their plans for the overhaul of how conservation authorities will operate.
Officials said they would be drawing up performance indicators for conservation authorities, but offered few details of what they would be.
They would not say what would happen to authorities who fail to meet the new standards, and if the government would step in, telling reporters that was an area of policy officials are still finalizing.
The changes to conservation authorities are expected to be implemented after consultation next spring, the government said last week, and existing board members will continue to serve until after the province changes governance structures after next October’s municipal elections.
McCarthy could not say if he would advocate for his bill not to be sped up, emphasizing the final decision would rest with the government house leader and the premier’s office.
“Whatever happens, I’ll continue to listen to the pros and the cons, to those who are for and against,” he said. “And so far, I can see tremendously strong support for our transformation to enhance conservation authorities to make sure they fulfil their core mandate.”
The premier’s office did not respond to a question from Global News asking if the bill would be sped up after it is tabled.
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