The cash-strapped Progressive Conservative government is hoping to conserve money by winding down some conservation programs.

But local conservation authorities say the province doesn’t actually pay for many of those activities, and some, like maple syrup festivals, can actually be money makers.

Conservation Ontario said local municipalities and conservation authorities were told in a letter last Friday from Premier Doug Ford’s administration to shut down any initiatives that are not related to their “core mandate.”

The changes were first reported Monday by the National Observer.

“This is confusing and extremely disappointing,” said Kim Gavine, general manager of the association representing the province’s 36 conservation authorities, which oversee watershed management and other ecological matters.

“We’ve been caught completely by surprise. We’ve been working for months in good faith with the government to make a number of planning and development approvals streamlining changes to support their agenda to eliminate the deficit and implement the housing strategy,” Glavine said.

Environment Minister Jeff Yurek confirmed late Monday night that the letter had been sent to Conservation Ontario.

“Over the years, conservation authorities have expanded past their core mandate into activities such as zip-lining, maple syrup festivals and photography and wedding permits,” he said.

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Yurek noted the Tories had signalled the changes in the More Homes, More Choice Act earlier this year, the legislation designed to make it easier to build new homes.

“Bringing conservation authorities back to their core mandate will allow municipalities to better manage conservation authority budgets and programs,” the minister said.

“The legislative changes we’ve made ensure conservation authorities focus on delivering core services and programs that protect communities from natural hazards and flooding while using taxpayer dollars efficiently and effectively.”

Deborah Martin-Downs, chief administrative officer with the Credit Valley Conservation Authority, which covers parts of Mississauga and Brampton, said winding down activities like maple syrup festivals “will not save them a penny.”

Martin-Downs calls the letter “premature” and “incorrect.” She said while the authorities are in the process of negotiating what’s in their core mandates with the province, the Conservation Act allows activities that fall outside of them to be funded by municipalities, which already provide most of the funding.

Other activities can be revenue streams.

“They mentioned photography — well, we charge a fee if you want to come in and use our lands for photography,” she added.

“Right now, our parks probably generate 50 cents on the dollar for us, so that then takes pressure off our operating budget, which the municipalities pay for through a levy.”

They also charge for popular events, like a maple syrup festival, kayak rentals, and weddings on conservation land.

“This is good for our community and good for the people of Ontario and I don’t know why this minister thinks that these are frivolous or these are activities that should be ceased, because they don’t have any role to play in them,” said Martin-Downs.

Hassaan Basit, head of Conservation Halton, agrees that winding down maple syrup festivals and other recreational activities doesn’t make sense.

“It will not save money,” he said. “It will result in millions of dollars of lost revenue.”

Yurek’s press secretary Andrew Buttigieg wrote in an emailed statement that the province will be further defining programs and services that could be considered outside of the core mandate through regulation.

“In the meantime, the minister has asked conservation authorities to not proceed with any new programs or levies on municipalities,” he added.

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“Some examples may include programs/services outside of the core mandate on lands not owned or controlled by the CA; recreational infrastructure, golf courses, water parks, water festivals and archeology. Municipalities will have the ability to enter into public and transparent agreements with conservation authorities to provide funding for activities outside of the core mandate.”

Glavine said the move effectively downloads conservation programs and services to municipalities.

“It was a very pre-emptive move that disregards the process and relationship that conservation authorities and municipalities have together,” she said.

Kelsey Scarfone, water programs manager with Environmental Defence, said the language referring to a “core mandate” is an avenue to cut essential programs that conservation authorities provide, from water monitoring to research on algae blooms.

“It really is a way to limit the types of work that conservation authorities can do on the ground, which is extremely negative because it adds so much value in terms of environmental protection in the regions that they operate in,” Scarfone said.

“Conservation authorities are the ones with the boots on the ground. They are the ones with the expertise in those local regions and really look at things on a watershed scale. By cutting programs, they’re limiting what we know about these watersheds.”

Green Leader Mike Schreiner criticized the Tories for being penny-wise and pound-foolish.

“This move by Ford is fiscally irresponsible,” said Schreiner. “Going after conservation authorities when the risks of flooding is on the rise will lead to more infrastructure damage from extreme weather, costing us more in the long run.”

NDP MPP Judith Monteith-Farrell (Thunder Bay-Atikokan) said “ “Doug Ford is leaving Ontarians with even less protection in his ongoing war against the environment.

“Ontario communities have seen record-level flooding, with devastating consequences to family homes, small businesses and community property,” said Monteith-Farrell.

With a federal election set for Oct. 21, Liberal Environment Minister Catherine McKenna pounced on the provincial cut and predicted voters could “expect to see more of the same from Andrew Scheer,” the Conservative leader.

“Conservative politicians say they’re ‘for the people’ but then they make devastating cuts to programs and services that Canadians rely on,” McKenna said Tuesday.

“Cutting funding for environment programs that were helping Ontarians save money and energy apparently wasn’t enough. Now, Premier Ford is continuing the Conservative cut-first-think-later approach and threatening further cuts to Ontario’s conservation authorities.”

Thanks mostly to a controversial accounting change, Ford’s Tories have ballooned the deficit to $10.3 billion this year from the previous Liberal government’s projected shortfall $6.7 billion in 2018-19.

Unlike the Liberals, the Conservatives no longer include as assets some $11 billion held in the government co-sponsored Ontario Public Service Employees’ Union Pension Plan and the Ontario Teachers Pension Plan.

Former finance minister Vic Fedeli, who was adamant about excluding the pension holdings even though it put the government in a more challenging fiscal position, has since been demoted to economic development minister. Rod Phillips is now the finance minister.

Robert Benzie is the Star's Queen's Park bureau chief and a reporter covering Ontario politics. Follow him on Twitter: @robertbenzie

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