General Manager Ken Phillips said if the bill passes, there could be serious negative impacts to the environment.
“It’s fairly aggressive in looking at lands to develop,” said Phillips. “They’re not looking at intensification in already established urban areas, but moving out into more rural areas. That would particularly impact wetlands. As wetlands are very important in terms of flood storage as well as habitat for a variety of species, this is obviously not something that the conservation authority thinks is a good idea.”
Phillips said the province is also telling them to review their inventory of lands that are considered “developable” and said that could result in a loss of green space, and a loss of environmental habitats for a variety of species.
“We’ve acquired lands over time to protect them for generations to come,” he said.
“Now we’re being instructed to take a second look at some of those properties and determine ‘well maybe we can or should build a house here or a subdivision here.’ That’s obviously something that we don’t feel is appropriate.”
