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New board chair for NPCA

At its annual general meeting in February, the Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority (NPCA) elected two new senior officers for the 2022 term.

At its annual general meeting in February, the Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority (NPCA) elected two new senior officers for the 2022 term. Niagara Regional Councillor for Lincoln Rob Foster will take the reins as chair of the board of directors, while Ward 2 Councillor for Haldimand County, John Metcalfe, will serve as vice-chair.

“We have made great strides in the past three years, stabilizing the NPCA for the future,” said Foster in a media release. “We have developed a strategic plan based on conservation-first and ecosystem philosophy principles, collaboration ethics, and innovation rooted in science.”

Rob Foster. SUPPLIED

Foster said that in 2022, the board will be focused on fully implementing the plan, while practising good governance.

First elected to Town of Lincoln council in 2001, Foster represented Ward 1 until 2018, at which point he was elected to Regional Council. He serves as Chair of the Corporate Services Committee at Niagara Region, and is a director on the Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO). Foster is also Niagara’s representative on the Southwestern Integrated Fibre Technology (SWIFT) project.

He is recently retired, having worked for over four decades in information technology within the media and healthcare industries. Foster did his undergrad studies at McMaster, followed by a master's degree in library and information sciences at Western, where he is currently pursuing another master’s, in public administration. He has also achieved a Project Management Professional designation.

The NPCA is one of 36 conservation authorities in the province, and manages 41 conservation areas within the Niagara Peninsula watershed held in public trust for recreation, heritage preservation, conservation, and education. It has something of a checkered past. The previous senior management team and board were embroiled in several high-profile controversies, including political infighting, labour disputes, tainted hiring and procurement practises, and a scathing rebuke from the province’s Auditor General.

Foster said that the authority has made significant strides in the past few years, and is proud of being part of the “new regime.”

He had words of praise for CAO Chandra Sharma, who arrived at the NPCA two years ago with a wealth of knowledge and experience, and “has brought a lot of stability to the organization.”

A close working relationship with his vice-chair should smooth his transition as head of the board of directors, said Foster.

“John Metcalfe and I were chair and vice chair of the Governance Committee for the last two years at the NPCA, which involved implementing a lot of the recommendations that had come from the Auditor General's report,” said Foster. “We also mapped out our changes to the provincial government’s adjustments to the Conservation Act, so both of us have a lot of experience and understanding of that document.”

Foster noted that he “kind of married into the NPCA, since my wife and her family have long-time involvement with the agency. My wife’s grandfather was the first superintendent at Long Beach Conservation Area on Lake Erie. I'm really quite excited because this is an opportunity for me to sort of cement the legacy.”

A lover of the outdoors, Foster said that he and his family get down to the Long Beach area of Wainfleet quite regularly, while noting that “there are lots of conservation areas for us closer to home in Beamsville, such as Cave Springs.”

The NPCA has turned out to be a really bright spot during the Covid crisis, said Foster.

“We have had lots of people making use of the walking trails in our conservation areas, right across Niagara and up into Haldimand and Hamilton.”

Foster hopes to continue working harmoniously with Pelham’s NPCA representative, Regional Councillor Diana Huson.

“Diana has been a huge advocate of [the] NPCA. She frequents the St. John's Conservation Area, and is always posting pictures to promote the outdoors. We're pretty much in sync with how we see the Region and the NPCA operating successfully.”

     


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Don Rickers

About the Author: Don Rickers

A life-long Niagara resident, Don Rickers worked for 35 years in university and private school education. He segued into journalism in his retirement with the Voice of Pelham, and now PelhamToday
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