The proposed amendments to…

The proposed amendments to the Provincial Parks and Conservation Reserves (PPCR) Act will remove critical protections for ALL Provincial Parks and Conservation lands. This is unacceptable. This proposal puts all Provincial Parks and conservancies at risk of partitioning and sell off without proper environmental assessment or public notice., The government should be strengthening protections for parks and conservancies as well as expanding the lands and waterways that fall under the Acts protection, not weakening legislation and risking public assets. This proposal reduces transparency and public accountability on the part of the government.

The proposed changes to the Act are not needed to support revitalization in the town of Wasaga, rather the government must comply with the existing PPCR Act. The government must conduct the proper environmental studies and assessments, with public reporting, and apply to the Legislature for permission to partition the land from Wasaga Provincial Park. The government must follow the existing rules for public notice, transparency, and accountability. By shirking its duty under the existing laws this government puts ecologically sensitive shoreline at risk AND will put all other parks and public lands at risk of the same sell off to private interests from behind closed doors.

It is not necessary to sell any of the Wasaga Provincial Parks shoreline to the Town of Wasaga for their revitalization ideas. The park’s shoreline is a narrow strip of ecologically sensitive land that has undergone decades of investment and work to restore it for habitat and endangered species. Keeping the shoreline within the Provincial Park does not present a barrier to the town pursuing revitalization and economic development. The town claims to want to encourage ecotourism, which it can do as a partner of the Provincial park while the town builds on existing private land that is adjacent to the shoreline. The government can support this ecotourism goal while maintaining the Park intact. The town does not actually have a publicly posted development proposal or plan for revitalization, other than selling its own holdings for a private hotel complex, and as such there is no demonstrated “need” to purchase Park land nor a demonstrated plan to protect the ecologically sensitive shoreline. Proposing sale of the Park shoreline without a plan and without proper impact assessment is irresponsible. The changes to the PPCR Act must be retracted.