Bruce County will join the push to convince the province to restructure its new proposed regional Conservation Authority system.
The Maitland Valley Conservation Authority (MCVA) provided a delegation to council Thursday morning, outlining the many issues it had with the proposed Lake Huron Regional Conservation Authority, which will combine it with the Ausable Bayfield, Saugeen, Grey Sauble, Nottawasaga, and Lake Simcoe Region Conservation Authorities.
Ed McGugan, Chair of the MVCA, said that just this week, they learned how small the local voice would be on the new board.
"Bruce County will have a small voice in this regional CA, but will still get the bill," he told council. "On Tuesday, we got an update from the (Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks), Bruce County will have one representative on the 22 member board, Huron County will have one, Lake Simcoe region will have 11 or 12 depending on how you interpret it. So they will already have a majority of the board."
McGugan said with the power consolidated to the east, the Ontario government should cut the proposed region in half so there's actually an authority just for those along Lake Huron.
He said the local knowledge cannot be replaced.
"No evidence has been given to indicate that the changes will yield any improvements," he said. "For example, the MVCA returned permits to our clients in an average of 5.7 business days in 2025, and a lot of people will be very surprised if the provincial agency will be able to achieve that level of performance."
McGugan added that local knowledge also helped clients avoid the need for permits by helping them move proposed buildings out of hazard zones.
Huron-Kinloss Mayor Don Murray noted that the province has already changed the proposal from seven to nine regional conservation authorities, so a move to 10 should be on the table.
Bruce County will send comments to the province advocating for Lake Huron to have its own regional authority, and Murray said he will be part of a delegation discussing the matter at the upcoming AMO conference.
