Canada has signed on to a…

Canada has signed on to a global agreement to preserve 30% of our land and waters by 2030 - for a reason. Nature is critical to our survival as a species, not to mention all the other species on the planet.
Selling off key parts of Ontario’s second most-visited Provincial Park for a development takes us in the wrong direction. The area under threat includes roughly 60% of the Park’s Georgian Bay shoreline lands and critical habitat. These sensitive areas have successfully relied on the Provincial Park’s protections to safely coexist with beachgoers and other recreational users.

I am also concerned that in targeting the Provincial Parks and Conservation Reserves Act (PPCRA), protections for all of Ontario Parks and Conservation Reserves are going to be significantly weakened. It is not necessary to change the Act to make a reasonable proposal for parks changes.

Provincial Parks belong to the people of Ontario. They are meant to be protected in perpetuity. They should not be part of a tourism development.

Background

Ecological values in the The Wasaga Beach Provincial Park lands to be lost include:

Known piping plover habitat, which is listed as endangered under both the federal Species at Risk Act and the provincial Endangered Species Act.
Mature sand dunes, which provide important ecological and stabilizing functions including providing a protective buffer against high water, wind and storm events for private or adjacent lands, which is an important role as the climate changes.
Significant vegetation communities and provincially significant wetlands.
“The Point” located in Beach Area 1 which is one of those targeted to be removed is designated as a provincially significant earth science Area of Natural and Scientific Interest (ANSI)da, as part of a global agreement, has committed to preserving 30% of our land and waters by 2030. This is taking us in the wrong direction on so many levels.