Dear Sir or Madam, I support…

Dear Sir or Madam,

I support the proposals to amend Ontario Regulation 161/17 (O. Reg. 161/17) under the Public Lands Act described in ERO 019-6590 posted by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry on February 24, 2023. The key proposed amendments relating to preventing floating accommodation units from camping on water over public lands will reduce the environmental and social impacts of floating accommodations and help to ensure that floating accommodation units can be appropriately regulated to:

Reduce the potential environmental impacts, such as disposal of black/grey water and garbage, and lower the spread of plastics pollution from the use of unencapsulated dock foam for flotation
Reduce the safety issues for those on board these units, which have poor navigability and are unstable in high winds/waves.

Keep these floating accommodation units safely moored at shoreline locations, where they can benefit from services such as water, sewage, hydro and garbage disposal.

Create the potential for municipalities to apply taxes to these accommodation units to pay for the services provided.

I have been a resident of Georgian Bay for over 70 years. One of the main reasons for my concern over the possibility of floating structures being allowed on the bay is because of water quality. I have often had cruisers anchor in my bay and then watched as they proceeded to dump their gray water into the bay. THIS IS MY DRINKING WATER ! Quite frankly the dumping of anything into our freshwater lakes and streams should be completely forbidden. A number of years ago while travelling by boat to my marina I came across large sections of shit in the main channel that had most likely been dumped by someone who didn't want to pay for a pump out. Four days later I came across the same thing again. Twice in one week! This is criminal. People can die by ingesting contaminated water, especially water contaminated with feces. I applaud the government's efforts to prevent floating accommodation units
from camping on water over public lands. This legislation is sorely needed if we are to prevent further degredation of our waters and environment.