I am sending this email to…

I am sending this email to express my opposition to the captioned proposal to amend Ontario Regulation 161/17 to the Public Lands Act to change the requirements for camping on water over Ontario’s public lands as it is currently constituted.

While I support the goal of the proposed changes which I interpret as addressing nuisance boats taking up long-term residence on public lands, I believe the proposed wording would significantly negatively impact the ability of responsible boat owners to enjoy boating and anchoring on Lake Ontario, Georgian Bay and many other lakes. Specifically, the prohibition of anchoring/camping within 300m of developed shoreline would effectively prohibit the use of anchorages that have been in use by boaters for decades. I note that anchorages require specific geographic or manmade landforms that are relatively rare on most lakes. The notion that moving a few hundred metres away from a current anchorage would solve the problem is invalid. In most instances, moving a few hundred metres would require leaving a safe anchorage.

I do accept that there is an issue with a small minority of irresponsible boat owners negatively impacting cottage or property owners by creating a nuisance close to their property. I'm not aware of any other circumstances that prioritize a property owner's risk of being disturbed above the public's right to conduct legal activities on public land up to 300 metres away from the property. If a boat at anchor is creating a nuisance, excessive noise or polluting, this should be addressed by laws and regulations that address these behaviours. If the intent is to penalize nuisance boaters, then I am all in favor of that, however, the proposed changes are far too broad. As written a family quietly enjoying an evening at anchor 300 metres from a dock could be ticketed and made to move on, potentially with the next safe harbour being hours away. To provide cottage owners with some protection against disturbance, I would not oppose a minimum distance from developed shoreline. I believe 15 metres would be a reasonable compromise between the interests of cottage property owners and the publics right to enjoy public lands.