White elected chair of Conservation Ontario

GUELPH – Wellington County councillor Chris White has been elected chair of Conservation Ontario.

Warden Andy Lennox announced White’s election at the April 27 Wellington County council meeting.

“We trust you’ll be representing our broad interests across the province with our provincial counterparts,” said Lennox.

White noted conservation authorities are currently working to deal with the effects of recent legislative changes from the province.

Those include Bill 23 the More Homes Built Faster Act, which delegates some conservation authority regulatory responsibility to individual municipalities.

“As you all know, we're in a bit of a transition right now with Conservation Ontario and so we're trying to work with the province to see how we can get the best alignment out of all the changes that have come through,” White told council.

White, the mayor of Guelph/Eramosa, is also the current chair of the Grand River Conservation Authority board of directors.