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Conservation authorities to amalgamate
February 13, 2026 · 0 Comments
Dear Editor,
It takes 2 hours and 42 minutes to drive between Mono and Point Albino, the most southern location in the proposed Western Lake Ontario Regional Conservation Authority (WLORCA), of which Mono would be a part.
The proposed WLORCA is a geographically large and environmentally diverse area. I would say too large and too diverse to ensure that local knowledge and expertise wouldn’t be lost in decision-making.
The loss of local control, knowledge and expertise is a very real concern in a conservation authority the size of the WLORCA.
We know that amalgamation does not deliver promised savings and increases political divisions. Think of Toronto’s amalgamation in 1988 or Cambridge in 1973. It would be more effective to consolidate services; i.e., a system-wide permitting structure without a full amalgamation would increase efficiency and ensure that decision-making and accountability remain local.
Many thanks to Mono Mayor John Creelman and Deputy Mayor Fred Nix for raising the issue of the financial impacts of amalgamation on local taxpayers.
It seems that we would be getting less but paying more. That isn’t something any level of government should implement, so why would the province want to do this? Is this a land grab by the province? Is the endgame the continued granting of developers and builders’ access to publicly owned or protected land?
Looking at the record of our provincial government, it certainly fits the pattern of benefiting friends of the Ford government.
Sincerely,
Jon Bathmaker
Friends Of The Greenbelt
Mono
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