Hudak asked to state position on Conservation Authorities

AWARE Simcoe news release – September 11, 2011-
BARRIE — AWARE Simcoe, a citizens’ group committed to safeguarding water, is calling on Progressive Conservative leader Tim Hudak to explain what appears to be a plan to weaken Ontario’s Conservation Authorities.

At a meeting this summer in Eastern Ontario, Hudak was asked how he would strip Conservations Authorities of their powers  According to a local newspaper, he replied: “This is not going to be easy, but it’s the right thing, and we are going to do it.”
“We are very concerned,” said Sandy Agnew, a member of the AWARE Simcoe board. “At a time when Environment Canada scientists are telling us that extreme weather events will become increasingly common, it doesn’t strike me as a good idea to weaken the one agency that protects against flooding and is working to protect sources of drinking water.”
“This is troubling,” said Fred Nix, a Town of Mono Councillor who is a current member and past chair of the Nottawasaga Valley Conservation Authority (NVCA). . “Ontario’s Conservation Authorities are viewed worldwide as a model for handling development in sensitive areas such as flood plains or shore lines. They should be supported at as part of the province’s strategy to address climate change, not weakened.”
Nix, who lives in Dufferin County, noted that the NVCA has the responsibility of reviewing the Highland Companies application in Melancthon for a massive quarry that may have serious impacts on local aquifers, streams and rivers.
“I know a large segment of the population in Dufferin wants to see this quarry stopped,” Nix said. “The one thing the public can reasonably count on is that the NVCA – as a commentating agency under the Aggregate Resources Act – will do a thorough job, using the best science available, in scrutinizing this application. 
“How could the NVCA do this work if it had its powers stripped?”
Agnew, a former board member of both the NVCA and the Lake Simcoe Region Conservation Authority, noted that scrutiny of massive projects like the mega-quarry is not a task that municipalities are qualified to take on.  “Conservation Authorities represent a system of environmental protection that has served the citizens of Ontario for well over half a century.  They need to be reinforced, not dismantled.”
AgriNews story   
Conservation Ontario letter to Tim Hudak