The idea of selling off…

The idea of selling off public land to developers fills me with horror. Our provincial parks are vitally important spaces for the environment, the climate, individual physical and mental health, and cultural identity. These spaces provide habitat for a wide range of plants and animals, creating safeguards for biodiversity and ecosystem resilience. They also protect natural land which provides us with a variety of ecosystem services (such as flood mitigation, carbon sequestration, erosion prevention and cooler temperatures), all of which help work towards climate goals and provide net cost savings to residents. Ontario parks receive thousands of visitors a year, and access to nature has been well proven to improve people’s mental and physical health (leading to less hospitalizations, and more cost savings). Ontarios natural spaces are what make this province great, and are ironically what the current ads for Ontario are promoting. By selling off our Ontario Parks, we would be ripping apart our identity, damaging our own health, and destroying irreplaceable ecosystems. All this to make a few rich developers even richer? Growth must happen, but it must be done sustainably, and not to the detriment of the many. Selling off our Parks is the wrong decision. Be smarter.