The province says it can't order a forensic audit of the Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority despite requests from Hamilton and other communities.

Kathryn McGarry, Ontario's minister of natural resources and forestry, responded by letter this week to the growing number of municipal councils calling for a provincial-ordered audit of the NPCA. The agency oversees a largely Niagara-based watershed that also includes parts of Glanbrook, Ancaster and Stoney Creek.

The minister said the province is reviewing the Conservation Authorities Act and indicated she wants "to strengthen conservation authority governance and accountability."

But she added the ministry does not currently have the "legislative ability" to order a forensic audit of an autonomous board. "The province oversees the policy relating to conservation authorities but it is municipalities, like you, who have the sole authority to appoint the boards," she wrote. "We have no … operational oversight of conservation authorities."

Ed Smith, a St. Catharines resident who has agitated for a government-ordered audit, called the letter a "big disappointment."

"I think this is the ministry abdicating its authority," said Smith, arguing the watershed protection agencies are creations of the province that wield delegated authority.

Smith distributed a report earlier this year detailing alleged problems with hiring and firing practices as well as financial management at the NPCA. Hamilton supported the call for an audit and is also fighting the agency before a tribunal over a funding dispute.

The NPCA has called parts of the citizen report false and defamatory. Board chair Bruce Timms recently dismissed most of the allegations as "fake news on Facebook." But he also said the board will consider the audit request at a Jan. 20 meeting.

New Democrat MPP Cindy Forster was skeptical Thursday about the minister's position that she is unable to act. "A lot of residents are begging for that intervention," she said.

mvandongen@thespec.com