One Conservation Authority to Rule them All

On October 31, 2025, the Minister of the Environment, Conservation and Parks (the “MECP”) announced the Province’s intention to create the Ontario Provincial Conservation Agency through forthcoming legislation. The Ontario Provincial Conservation Agency is proposed to be a provincial board-governed agency with the stated purpose of providing centralized leadership, efficient governance and strategic direction. As part of this announcement, the MECP also indicated that the Province plans to consolidate the existing 36 conservation authorities into 7 regional conservation authorities, which would receive oversight and governance from the single Ontario Provincial Conservation Agency.

This announcement was followed by the introduction of Bill 68, Plan to Protect Ontario Act (Budget Measures), 2025 (No. 2) on November 6, 2025, just under one week later.[1] While introduced as an Act to “implement budget measures”, Bill 68 also proposes to amend the Conservation Authorities Act (the “CAA”) to establish the Ontario Provincial Conservation Agency by adding a new Part VII.1 to the CAA, which would set out the objects of the agency, its powers, the directions it may issue conservation authorities, its ability to establish and require the payment of fees and its governance structure.[2] Among others, Bill 68 proposes that the objects of the agency be to:

• Oversee the governance of authorities and other aspects of authorities such as their operations, including the programs and services they provide, to further the purposes of the CAA;
• Oversee the transition to a regional watershed-based framework for authorities in Ontario;
• Oversee and evaluate the financial performance of authorities;
• Guide and evaluate the strategic planning by authorities to ensure it aligns with provincial objectives; and
• Any other objects prescribed by regulation.[3]

Bill 68 was ordered to second reading also on November 6, 2025.[4]

On November 7, 2025, Proposal 025-1257 was posted to the Environmental Registry of Ontario and provides further details on the proposed Ontario Provincial Conservation Agency and regional authorities consolidation. The Proposal seeks feedback on the boundaries and criteria for the proposed regional consolidation and is open for public comment until December 22, 2025. The Province published its current draft boundaries and explains in the post that it seeks to maintain and align natural hydrological boundaries; maintain existing relationships between conservation authorities and municipalities; balance expertise and capacity of conservation authorities; and provide service continuity. The draft mapping can be found here, and a supplemental explanation of the boundaries can be accessed here. The Province has stated that no changes are proposed regarding the geographic extent of conservation authorities’ jurisdiction within the province.

The Will of the Many (Governments)

The only thing surprising about these proposed changes is that they did not come sooner. The history of the government’s key changes to conservation authorities over the years is provided below and demonstrates that this proposed new amendment to the conservation authority regime is consistent with the Province’s longstanding attempts to streamline development, permitting and other matters governed by the CAA.

The Establishment of Conservation Authorities

Conservation authorities were established through the former Conservation Authorities Act in 1946 (the “1946 Act”).[5] The 1946 Act was established at the request of municipalities in a common watershed so that they could work together on local resource management, including flooding and erosion issues.[6] However, it was not until the devastating impacts of Hurricane Hazel in 1954 that the former provincial government lead by Premier Leslie Frost made significant changes to the scope of the 1946 Act to provide for greater flood protection and management across the Province.[7] The role of conservation authorities has since expanded, with the stated purpose of the CAA being introduced by the liberal government in 2017, and being “to provide for the organization and delivery of programs and services that further the conservation, restoration, development and management of natural resources in watersheds in Ontario.”[8]

Bill 139: Laying the Groundwork (2017)

The Province’s attempts at streamlining the CAA have spanned governments, arguably starting with the liberal government’s introduction of Bill 139 in 2017, the Building Better Communities and Conserving Watersheds Act, 2017.[9] Bill 139 brought forward the first substantive amendments to the CAA since 2011, and proposed sweeping changes, including the addition of a purpose statement which remains today;[10] amendments to the objects, powers and duties of authorities relating to programs and services and projects that they undertake;[11] and the addition of section 21.1 to establish what activities were mandatory for authorities to provide versus other discretionary activities which were instead to be set out by a memorandum of understanding with municipalities.

Bill 139 also introduced various other amendments which did not come into effect until significantly later. For example, the Bill introduced section 21.2 to the CAA which now permits the MECP[12] to determine classes of programs and services in respect of which an authority can charge fees, but this did not come into effect until January 1, 2023.[13] The Bill also proposed to significantly overhaul section 28 of the CAA, which regulates the permitting process for development within a conservation authority’s regulated areas. At that time, section 28 authorized conservation authorities to make regulations in their areas of jurisdiction to regulate development in those areas (i.e. river valleys, shorelines, hazard land and wetlands), which regulations were to be approved by the Minister of Natural Resources and Forestry. This resulted in the eventual creation of the 36 regulations for each of Ontario’s conservation authorities. Bill 139 proposed to instead set out this process in the CAA itself. Since these proposed amendments were never proclaimed into effect, all 36 conservation authorities continued to regulate the permitting process under their own individual 36 regulations.[14]

Bill 108: Increasing Housing Supply and Decreasing Conservation Authority Roles (2019)

Next was the infamous Bill 108, the More Homes More Choice Act, 2019, which was the Province’s first phase of implementing the Housing Supply Action Plan and the first (but certainly not last) time Ontarians saw a bill named after the Province’s key priority – More Homes. Bill 108 further amended the mandatory programs and services required to be offered by conservation authorities by scoping them to programs and services related to the risk of natural hazards; conservation and management of conservation authority owned or controlled lands; drinking water source protection; and the protection of the Lake Simcoe watershed. However, these amendments did not come into force until they were proclaimed by the Lieutenant Governor in Council (“LG”) on July 1, 2023, four years later.[15]

Bill 229: Streamlining Permitting (2020)

The streamlining of a conservation authority’s role was continued through the introduction of Bill 229, the Protect, Support and Recover from COVID-19 Act (Budget Measures), 2020, which received royal assent on December 8, 2020.[16] Bill 229 substantially amended the section 28 permitting process to allow the applicant of a permit to decide whether it wishes to seek a review of the authority’s decision by the minister or, if the minister did not conduct such review, to appeal the decision to the former Local Planning Appeal Tribunal within 90 days after the decision was made.[17] Furthermore, if the authority failed to make a decision with respect to an application within 120 days after the application is submitted, the applicant became authorized to appeal the application directly to the Tribunal.[18]

Bill 229 also introduced new sections to the CAA which require the conservation authority to, on application, grant the applicant permission to carry out a development project in the authority’s area of jurisdiction if a zoning order has been made by the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing under section 47 of the Planning Act, subject to its ability to attach specified types of conditions to the permit.[19] Bill 229 further introduced section 28.1.1, which allows the MECP to order a conservation authority not to issue a permit to engage in an activity that, without the permit, would be prohibited under section 28 of the CAA, and after doing so, the MECP may instead issue the permit itself.[20] Finally, Bill 229 amended the Planning Act  to remove the ability of a conservation authority to appeal specified development applications, including official plan amendments, zoning by-law amendments, minor variances and plans of subdivision, unless the appeal relates to natural hazard policies in any policy statements issued under section 3 of the Planning Act, except for those policies that relate to hazardous forest types for wildland fire. This last amendment to the Planning Act was never proclaimed and later amended by Bill 23, More Homes Built Faster Act, 2022.[21]

Early Regulatory Implementation Pre-Bill 23

After Bill 229 came into effect but before Bill 23 was introduced, the Province started implementing the proposed amendments through regulation.[22] However, many did not come into effect until after Bill 23 was passed. Among others, the Province introduced:

• Ontario Regulation (“O.Reg.”) 686/21, Prescribing Mandatory Programs and Services, which came into force on January 1, 2022;
• O. Reg. 400/22, Information Requirements, which came into force on July 1, 2022;
• O.Reg. 687/21, Transition Plans and Agreements for Programs and Services Under Section 21.1.2 of the Act which came into force on October 1, 2021 and was shortly thereafter amended in April 2022;
• O.Reg. 688/21, Rules of Conduct in Conservation Areas, which, while filed on October 1, 2021, did not came into effect until April 1, 2024;
• O.Reg. 402/22, Budget and Apportionment, which came into effect on July 1, 2023; and
• O. Reg. 401/22, Determination of Amounts under Subsection 27.2(2) of the Act, which came into effect on July 1, 2023.

With the regulations drafted and ready to go, Bill 23 was introduced on October 25, 2022 and received royal assent on November 28, 2022.

Bill 23: More Homes Built Faster Act (2022)

Bill 23 marks the point at which the changes proposed in the previous bills began to take effect. Bill 23 proposed to revoke each of the 36 conservation authorities’ individual regulations on a day to be proclaimed by the LG, and to amend the CAA so that an authority would no longer be able to make its own regulations applicable to its jurisdiction area. Instead, the Province would later prescribe one single regulation to govern all 36 authorities, effectively re-enacting the Bill 139 permitting process introduced in 2017. Bill 23 also added subsection 21.1.1(1.1) to the CAA which sets out that an authority shall not provide services, among other things, within its area of jurisdiction related to reviewing and commenting on a proposal, application or other matter made under a prescribed Act. It also created subsections 28(4.1) and (4.2) to exempt certain to-be-prescribed development authorized under the Planning Act from requiring a permit under the CAA, and it amended the factors to be considered when making decisions relating to a permission to carry out a development project or a permit to engage in otherwise prohibited activities from consideration of “the control of flooding, erosion, dynamic beaches or pollution or the conservation of land” to “the control of flooding, erosion, dynamic beaches or unstable soil or bedrock”.

Implementation and Final Regulations (2023–2025)

A further regulation, O.Reg. 596/22: Prescribed Acts – Subsections 21.1.1(1.1) and 21.1.2(1.1) of the Act, came into effect on January 1, 2023. O.Reg. 596/22 prescribed the Acts which authorities could no longer provide reviewing or commenting services in relation to and included, among others, applications made under the Aggregate Resources Act, the Environmental Protection Act, the Ontario Heritage Act and the Planning Act. Bill 23 also amended and brought into effect subsection 1(4.1) of the Planning Act, officially limiting the appeals rights of conservation authorities of land use planning decisions to matters related solely to natural hazards policies in provincial policy statements issued under the Planning Act.

Following Bill 23, conservation authorities, municipalities and stakeholders worked together to review and understand the new role of conservation authorities, particularly in reviewing planning applications. Many authorities posted new guidelines and policies to provide more certainty to stakeholders.

Finally, on April 1, 2024, the Province filed O.Reg. 41/24: Prohibited Activities Exemptions and Permits, the long awaited single regulation to govern the prohibited activities, exemptions and permits under the CAA. On the same day, the prior 36 regulations were revoked.[23] O.Reg. 41/24 carried forward much of the content from the revoked 36 conservation authority specific regulations with some additional changes which have the effect of reducing the extent of authorities’ jurisdiction including:

• New definitions of “development activity” and “watercourse”;
• Amendments to “other areas” where development activities are prohibited. In the former regulations, development was prohibited in an authority’s area of jurisdiction if it was within 120 m of a wetland. This was reduced to 30 m;
• New exemptions for low-risk activities from conservation authority approval including things like seasonal or floating docks less than 10 m² in size, fences and erosion control structures; and
• Inclusion of a list of permit application requirements and the addition of a right of the applicant to request a review if the authority has not sent a notice of complete application within 21 days of submission.

The final event in this saga was the introduction of O.Reg. 474/24 which came into effect on January 1, 2025. This regulation sets out the process for the Minister’s reviews under sections 28.1 and 28.1.2 of the CAA and minister’s orders under section 28.1.1. In particular, it outlines the circumstances which the MECP may review section 28 permits or make an order under subsection 28.1.1(1). These circumstances are where the proposed development activity pertains to or supports a matter of provincial interest, which are outlined in section 7 as the provision of housing, community services, infrastructure, employment opportunities or other matters that are in the Provincial interest in the opinion of the MECP.

The Ballad of Flood Control and Housing

This brings us to the Province’s most recent and arguably natural move to have one government agency to regulate and oversee 7 regional authorities, with a stated intention of reducing duplicated administrative costs, freeing-up resources for front line conservation and better aligning conservation authorities’ services with provincial priorities on housing, the economy, infrastructure and climate resilience.[24]

Critics argue that this newest proposal of the government is part of the provincial government’s agenda to remove the power of conservation authorities in the Province.[25] While most appreciate the need to speed up development approvals, it is argued that this is being done at the expense of the environment, and that a reduction in conservation authorities from 36 to 7 will result in more inefficiencies. For example, since each current conservation authority oversees a certain and specific environmental landscape, the newly proposed conservation authorities will be required to oversee many different and seemingly unrelated environmental landscapes, making it more difficult to protect.[26]

In contrast, supporters of the proposed changes opine that these will promote consistency and efficiency in watershed governance while ensuring that decisions continue to be based on science. Supporters acknowledge that there are administrative and funding matters to be addressed, but that a more central governance approach will likely assist with getting more shovels in the ground, faster, while managing natural hazards.

If the critics are correct that this is in fact part of the government’s ultimate objective to reduce the powers of conservation authorities in the Province, this raises the question as to what we will see next – if the 36 conservation authorities are consolidated into 7, will the 7 eventually amalgamate into one Provincial Conservation Authority? If this happens, is this slow yet steady erosion in the power granted to conservation authorities more or less aligned with their original 1946 purpose, to reduce the risks of natural hazards in Ontario? While we could go on speculating, instead, we will leave you with the quote of the great poet, Gandalf:

     All we have to decide is what to do with the [legislation] that is given us.

Any article or other information or content expressed or made available in this Section is that of the respective author(s) and not of the OBA.