NOT SO MANY years ago, Haliburton County had MNR offices in Gooderham, Haliburton and Minden. Soon it may have none.
A video statement from the Deputy Minister to staff of Ontario’s Ministry of Natural Resources says budget cuts mean “fewer people, places and programs” for the ministry.
Exactly what that means still is being worked out, but informed speculation is that the MNR may be left with only eight local offices, instead of the 40 or so it now has in places like Atikokan and Tweed – and Minden.
Local stewardship councils like Haliburton’s also appear to be on the chopping block, as does much of the MNR’s oversight of projects affecting the natural environment.
Developers would be “deemed to have approvals if they confirm their compliance with standards established in regulation, as opposed to detailed review by ministry staff,” according to the Deputy Minister’s video.
I have as much difficulty interpreting bureaucratic bafflegab as The Brown Dog Jiggs has understanding my commands, but that sounds as though the fox will be put in charge of the hen house. Don’t blame the Deputy Minister, or the MNR, for that matter. They’re just trying to cope with a three per cent cut ($26-million) in the new provincial budget that was expected to pass yesterday.
Spending cuts are a perennial reality in this province for any ministry not delivering health care or education for a government under pressure to hold down spending in a faltering economy.
The MNR’s three per-cent cut may sound trivial, but it’s just the latest trim for a ministry that has lost two-thirds of its share of the provincial budget since 1990-91.
That share has gone from 1.6 per cent to 0.5 of the provincial budget. Staffing has been slashed by 40 per cent, from 5,800 to 3,300 in that span and there’s more to come.
An understandable amount of hysteria is going around among folks who depend on the MNR’s support in one way or another.
For example, there is a rumour that revenue from fishing and hunting licences no longer will go directly to the ministry’s Fish and Wildlife Special Purpose Account. Special purposes include everything from fish-stocking to population surveys such as the one that counts the deer in the Hindon deer yard. The account also pays for enforcement.
http://www.mindentimes.ca/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=3542971 
Shrinking MNR Budget Cutbacks
