The CAO of the Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority says a letter from the province telling them to 'wind down' non-essential programming and focus on a core mandate came as a surprise.
Gayle Wood tells CKTB's Matt Holmes the NPCA has already agreed to a core mandate of flooding protection, maintenance of conservation lands, and drinking water protection.
"That's not a problem at all. The problem is that the province had committed to consultation with the municipalities and with the conservation authorities to flesh out the details of what that would include, and those consultations haven't happened yet. So this letter took everyone very much by surprise."
She says one of her main concerns boils down to funding, especially for water protection programs.
"But this is really about who's going to pay for it - up until now the province has paid for this really important program. So I think the province is saying you have to continue to do a conservation authority, but we're still waiting to see if they will pay for it."
Some funding from the province has already been lost; back in April the Ford government slashed flood protection funding in half.
Wood is now asking to province to hold those consultations they had committed to so the NPCA has a better idea about where funding is coming from, and what needs to be negotiated with other funding partners.
"If the province is saying we have to do these things, but they're not providing the funding, then basically the funding is going to be download to the municipalities and this has been done without further consultation between the province, the conservation authorities, the municipalities, and the community."
Click here to listen to Wood's full interview with Matt Holmes