Politicians in Lambton County are asking Ontario to tap the brakes on a plan to merge the province’s 36 conservation authorities into seven and create a new agency to oversee them.

County council backed a motion Wednesday by Alan Broad, mayor of Dawn-Euphemia Township, asking the province to put its proposed changes “on hold” until more information can be provided to municipalities impacted by the move.

On Halloween day, the province announced a plan to consolidate authorities overseeing watersheds and create an agency providing “centralized leadership, efficient governance, strategic direction and oversight.”

Todd McCarthy, minister of environment, conservation and parks, said in a news release at the time the current system with 36 authorities had become “too fragmented, inconsistent

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