I am deeply opposed to and…

I am deeply opposed to and concerned by the Ontario Government's proposal to change the Provincial Parks and Conservation Reserves Act (PPCRA) to enable the transfer of the Wasaga Beach Provincial Park land to the Town of Wasaga Beach.

This incredibly unique natural landscape, is what draws thousands of locals and tourists to the landscape each year AND the Ontario parks mandate is to protect natural areas for the people of Ontario, forever. These changes, in my opinion, would be a gross over-reach of our Ontario representatives on behalf of development interests. This area is not an appropriate area for more large-scale development.

Wasaga Beach's natural areas and wildlife are already heavily impacted by human activities, regularly. The Ontario Parks staff currently do a wonderful job of balancing human recreation opportunities and preservation and enhancement of the wild flora and fauna in this area. As an Ontario citizen who also enjoys visiting Wasaga Ontario Provincial Park each year, I expect our Ontario Parks system to exist into the foreseeable future to help protect biodiversity and ensure this legacy exists for our children and grand-children, especially since we continue to witness a trending decline of wildlife in Ontario, Canada and the world. As an outdoor enthusiast, I have been alarmed at the very low numbers of butterflies, frogs and even birds I have seen in many regions of Ontario, this summer.
Auditor General: “Biodiversity Loss has Reached Crisis ...Nature Canadahttps://naturecanada.ca › news › blog › auditor-general-...(Dec. 6, 2022).

A transfer of up to 60 % of the Beach area to the Town of Wasaga Beach seems like a completely disingenuous reason to continue to attract tourism, when this Beach and Park is one of the most visited parks each year in Ontario. We have already witnessed that the Town of Wasaga Beach has been able to sell off some of the areas of Beach it already owns for development and this proposal would whittle away an enormous area to be lost forever to private interests.

Lastly, I truly hope that a Casino is not a part of the grand plan here as this would certainly be a final blight on the incredible shorelines of this community and attract and increase many social problems for local residents related to the sad addictions of gambling.

The desire to change the legislation by this government only suggests that they are interested in eliminating Ontario's citizens public access to our natural spaces and we cannot trust this government or that our other provincial parks will be safe, should this legislation be be approved. Please consider the long-term local community groups and the environmental consequences very seriously of this short-sighted proposal and change course immediately. There is much work to be done on the many, more pressing current issues of concern to Ontario citizens.