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The Ford government is amalgamating Ontario’s 36 conservation authorities into just seven and creating a new centralized agency to govern them, promising the change will not result in job losses or changes to their mandate.
On Friday morning, Minister of the Environment, Conservation and Parks Todd McCarthy announced the changes alongside the head of the newly unveiled Ontario Provincial Conservation Authority.
McCarthy said the changes he was ushering in would “ensure faster, more transparent permitting and more front-line services” and replace a “fragmented, inconsistent and outdated” system.
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The new agency will create a single digital permitting platform to be used by the remaining seven conservation authorities and will streamline and standardize performance standards.
Officials with the government said they would be drawing up performance indicators for conservation authorities, but offered few details of what they would be.
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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.
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McCarthy said the consolidation of 36 authorities into seven would not mean any job losses, but there will be some management positions “redeployed” to front-line roles.
He did not answer repeated questions about how he would guarantee no job losses or what consequences authorities who did lose staff would face.
McCarthy said the CEOs of the 36 existing conservation authorities would have a “transformational opportunity” to become front-line workers.
According to salary disclosures, the head of the Toronto Region Conservation Authority earned $305,033 last year.
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