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w at er lo oc hr on ic le .c a W at er lo o C hr on ic le | T hu rs da y, A ug us t 29 ,2 01 9 | 28 The Grand River Conserva- tion Authority (GRCA) will be taking a proactive approach to dealing with the province's call to scale back its activities to simply perform its core functions. "We're going to be on this like a dog on a bone," GRCA chair Helen Jowett told her board, as it supported and encouraged the authority's recent actions during the Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO) convention in Ottawa. On Aug. 16, Minister of the En- vironment, Conservation and Parks Jeff Yurek circulated a let- ter to all conservation authori- ties calling on them to review and consider their activities and be- gin preparations to wind down those activities that fall outside the scope of their core mandates. The following Monday, Con- servation Ontario responded with a media release criticizing the province for moving to con- strain authority programs and services before discussions about mandatory programs. At the recent AMO conven- tion, Jowett and GRCA chief ad- ministrative officer Samantha Lawson met with various provin- cial ministers and their staff to discuss the pending changes. Jowett said the GRCA's ap- proach is to be supportive and collaborative with the provincial officials. "We were very encouraged and I believe well received," Jow- ett said, noting Lawson's techni- cal expertise played a crucial role in the meetings. "She (Lawson) was even able to suggest some solutions and they responded very positively to that, so I feel somewhat encour- aged by that," Jowett said. "So we will be continuing on that theme." Jowett said authority officials will be going to Queen's Park next week for further discus- sions with some of the ministers and their staff. GRCA officials have also invited provincial offi- cials to Cambridge to see what the authority does. "We're looking for clarity and certainly collaboration, but also looking to bring potential resolve to ourselves," Jowett said. On Aug. 23, Lawson told the board, "We did have meetings with the ministers and we did en- courage them to contact us if they had specific questions, and that we were hopeful that we would get an opportunity to work with them in terms of moving this forward and that seemed to be well received." Several members of the board referred to the minister's letter as "vague" and "confusing." North Dumfries Mayor Sue Foxton said the minister's letter was not well received at AMO, at a bear pit session where various municipal officials quizzed the ministers. "A few of the mayors got up and stated that they felt this was going to prevent the use of parks and recreation. They were con- cerned they would lose places, like in this area, such as Pine- hurst, or Kinsmen Pool that would no longer be part of the GRCA's mandate," she said. Jowett believes the Ford gov- ernment is just starting to work on understanding what the con- servation authorities do and how they work. "Not to be disrespectful, but I think they are trying to find their way through this," she said. "We have a fairly complicated organi- zation with many programs and some (programs) might be per- ceived as not to be integrated when they completely are." Jowett later explained that a program like the GRCA's rural water quality program, which as- sists farmers with tree planting along streams to deal with ero- sion, or animal manure manage- ment, while not a core program, is essential to improving water quality across the watershed. "Our hope is if we can be part of the solution, then maybe we can help them be mindful of some of those really important pieces," she said. During discussions with pro- vincial officials, Jowett said she got the sense that the province is looking to cut red tape between municipalities and conservation authorities. In this area, Jowett said the GRCA has been a "flag- ship" among the 32 conservation authorities. In working with its 20 munici- palities, it has also lent assis- tance to help other, often smaller, conservation authorities, she said. "We feel we have very valid role to play here," she said, add- ing she anticipates the GRCA, which is the largest conservation authority, will take a lead role in dealing with the new cost-cutting challenges from the province. Cambridge Mayor Kathryn McGarry said that in talking with other mayors at the confer- ence concern was expressed about how the memorandums of understanding they already have with their conservation authori- ties will be impacted by the direc- tion the province is taking. "Their concerned that the let- 'WE'RE ON THIS LIKE A DOG ON A BONE,' JOWETT TELLS GRCA RAY MARTIN rmar tin@cambridgetimes.ca NEWS See PROVINCE, page 30