The mayors of Brampton and Mississauga are urging the Ford government to exempt a Toronto-area conservation authority from a planned merger, claiming the changes would pose “significant and immediate risks” to three of the province’s largest cities.
Ontario confirmed this year that it would amalgamate 36 conservation authorities into just nine in an attempt to remove duplication, streamline the permitting processes and fast-track housing developments across the province.
The new structure will also see the creation of an Ontario-wide conservation authority to serve as an oversight body, which will help manage the 75 per cent drop in the number of conservation authorities.
But last week, the mayors of Brampton and Mississauga wrote to Environment Minister Todd McCarthy outlining their “strong opposition” to the plan.
In a joint letter, Patrick Brown and Carolyn Parrish called on the government to consider keeping the Credit Valley Conservation Authority as a stand-alone entity.
The authority, which was created in 1954, is set to be folded into the Western Lake Ontario Regional Conservation, along with the Halton, Hamilton and Niagara Peninsula conservation authorities. It’s move, the mayors argue, would upend the local system.
“This legislation poses significant and immediate risks to three of Ontario’s largest and most economically critical cities. The stability, safety, and efficiency of our local watershed management system are too important to jeopardize,” the mayors wrote in their letter.
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“Any move that threatens to weaken or disrupt the high‑performing services our residents and businesses rely on demands our direct and urgent intervention.”
Brown and Parrish, along with the Region of Peel, argue that the Credit Valley Conservation Authority already exceeds provincial expectations on issuing housing permits — with a response time of 14 days compared to the provincial requirement of 90 days.
Any changes, they wrote, would “slow housing approvals, reduce certainty for builders, and result in fewer shovels in the ground.”
A spokesperson for the provincial government emphasized the amalgamations would not change how conservation authorities operate.
“They will continue to provide the same programs and services they deliver today,” they wrote in a statement.
“Their mandate and service areas will remain unchanged. Furthermore, conservation authorities will remain municipally governed, local offices will stay open, and the newly formed local watershed councils will ensure that the voices of municipal leaders, Indigenous communities, and local experts remain a part of watershed planning.”
They said the existing systems created “confusion, duplication, and inconsistent service across the province.”
The warnings outlined in the mayor’s letter echo the concerns from the conservation authority’s board of directors, who said municipal planners and developers already have predictable timelines in the region and that any changes could seize up the gears.
“In the context of Ontario’s housing crisis, the last thing we should do is disrupt a system that is already helping get homes built,” said Michael Palleschi, the conservation board chair.
“Transitioning to a new regional bureaucracy would almost certainly slow approvals while staff, systems, and governance structures are reorganized.”
The government is currently targeting early 2027 to complete its amalgamation work, a timeline some have suggested is likely to be pushed back.
“I would suggest that February 2027, as being proposed, is very ambitious,” Tim Lanthier, the CAO of Grey Sauble Conservation Authority, previously told Global News. “It’s our understanding from the media statements that the province has a plan. We’ve yet to see this plan, though.”
Minister McCarthy has pledged that the amalgamation won’t lead to net job losses and insists it is necessary to deal with “fragmentation,” bring efficiency to leadership and standardization to the work conservation authorities do.
“We had a problem with fragmentation and inconsistency,” the minister said. “We identified the solution to that problem. We listened after initially proposing seven, and we’ve arrived at nine.”
The mayors of Brampton and Mississauga called on the government to “reconsider or pause” the proposed legislation “until full consultation with municipalities is completed.”
Doug Ford,the corrupted politician wants more things done for his rich friends.He is just destroying our province!
I’m confused. I’m sorry but I must not understand how this works. How does a change to conservation authorities have any effect on Housing Development? We’re not building houses in conservation authorities, are we?
Doug probably gets these ideas from his glamping buddy, Mark.
Get Ford “OUT”. He is so like The president of the U.S.. Whatever I want, goes, is Ford’s motto!! Let’s get someone that wants the best for Ontario, just not himself. Fast tracking is Ford’s idea of not having to answer for anything he does! “GET LOST” FORD! You’ve done enough damage to Ontario.
It will be great. Temporary Foreign workers can be hired to manage it all.
Anyone that has had to deal with a conservation authority realizes just how useless they are. Fird should have abolished them, not amalgamated.
Sure, amalgamate so that Dougie and his developer cronies can plant their rubber stamping, well compensated people inside to clear the path for more protected Greenbelt lands to be destroyed so the money train can keep rolling for them. Don’t forget he’s also privatizing our drinking water. Just wait….
Dougie ford is a communist that’s why all the centralization of all peers going him and his communist regime there is nothing democratic or free speech about Dougie ford Dougie is a self serving communist
The Ford government thinks they know what’s best for all of Ontario, they don’t think they have to consult with anyone. Doug Ford is trying so hard to set himself up to take Pierre’s job, which would be a disaster for the whole country.
It seems to me that ,nothing recent moves by Doug ” call me Dougie” Ford is beginning to sound more like a trump wanna be despite any protestations he makes.With the Greenbelt fiasco hovering in the background being investigated,I wouldn’t trust Doug Ford any further than I could throw a porcupine.Any time he comes out with new and “wonderful ideas” I cringe.