I saw a recent change to a regulation in my home province of Ontario recently that got me very frustrated because the decision was so short-sighted. The Government of Ontario will be taking away some of the powers of the Conservation Authorities to make decisions on whether developers can build on flood plains.

The change will allow developers to appeal decisions made by the Conservation Authorities that they are not allowed to build on a particular piece of land (generally in a flood plain or a protected area). The appeal will go directly to the Minister of Natural Resources, which generally is an economist or lawyer (not a scientist or engineer!). The change will no doubt allow developers to build more on flood plains then in the past.

Conservation Authorities (CAs) were created in the 1950s in Ontario after the government realized deforestation and the elimination of floodplains were occurring at a rapid rate. CAs were in charge of making the decisions of who could build where and when. Each CA is in charge of a Watershed in Ontario.

Over the past 5 years, the coastal areas of Lake Ontario and the St. Lawerence River have been flooded due to climate change impacts and historically building residents on floodplain areas. The Federal Government told the Regions and Municipalities that they were not going to bail them out because of mismanagement in the future. So how will new developments that are built on floodplains be managed when the area gets flooded?

How do you suggest we stop this from happening?

Link To Article:

https://www.nationalobserver.com/2020/11/11/news/ford-government-take-powers-away-conservation-authorities

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