The proposal includes the…

The proposal includes the following text:

"Camping on water over public lands – conditions
We are proposing to amend the regulation to change the conditions that must be met when camping on water over public lands by:
reducing the number of days that a person can camp on water at one location in each calendar year from 21 days to 7 days
increasing the distance that a camping unit on water must move to a different location from 100 meters to 1 kilometer
adding a new condition to prohibit camping on water within 300 meters of a developed shoreline, including any waterfront structure, dock, boathouse, erosion control structure, altered shoreline, boat launch and/or fill.
The intent of these changes is to minimize the impacts of camping on water and ensure camping on water remains a temporary activity. None of these changes would impact a boater’s ability to navigate, including reasonable mooring. Camping within 300 meters of shore would be allowed in front of vacant land."

In fact, these proposed changes do significantly impact a boater's ability to navigate, since the Ontario government is proposing to explicitly include all accommodation-equipped vessels in the definition of "camping unit" and "camping on water". The right to anchor a vessel in any safe anchorage is part of the common law right of navigation and is guaranteed by the Canada Shipping Act, 2001. Most of Ontario's safe anchorages place the anchored boats between 30 and 150 metres from shore.

Consistent enforcement of such a rule set is totally impossible. Enforcement will, therefore, end up being complaints-based, and will depend to a large degree on how loud and politically powerful the complainant (typically a waterfront property owner) is and what kind of relationship that person has with the local police.

Confrontations between waterfront property owners and boaters are, at present, generally tempered or prevented by the knowledge on both sides that the waterways are public and that private property rights end at the high-water mark. A rule that allows a waterfront property owner to demand the police evict a transient boater from a public anchorage up to 300 metres from that owner's shoreline is likely to put officers in the uncomfortable position of choosing between enforcing a federal law that guarantees a longstanding common-law right on behalf of a transient boater whom the officer will never see again, versus enforcing a provincial regulation that effectively extends a private property right into public space on behalf of a wealthy and influential resident whom the officer will have to deal with repeatedly.