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Ontario working group will provide input on Conservation Authorities Act changes in Ontario

Ottawa – The Ontario government is creating a working group to help implement recent changes to conservation authorities.

Hassaan Basit, president and CEO of Conservation Halton, will chair the new group. The group will provide input on the development of proposed regulations under the Conservation Authorities Act, and on how conservation authorities are governed.

The province introduced legislative changes through Bill 229, Protect, Support and Recover from COVID-19 Act, 2020, which received Royal Assent on Dec. 8, 2020. Amendments were made to the bill based on valuable feedback from stakeholder groups, including conservation authorities.

The new working group will include representatives from conservation authorities and other experts. Representatives of the working group will be announced in the coming weeks.

Once they begin work in January, the working group will provide input to help the province develop regulations that will focus on:

• the mandatory core programs and services conservation authorities would be required to provide
• the agreements between municipalities and conservation authorities and the transition period associated with non-mandatory programs and services
• how local members of the community can participate in their conservation authorities through community advisory boards

Ontario is served by 36 conservation authorities.