I personally think this the…

I personally think this the worse form of foolishness.

Lets go back a few years and look at the process here; people were lured into the park by the government in the first place, close to 1000 in all built cottages, giving a source of revenue to the parks commission and establishing some commerce in the area giving people a beautiful escape for nearly 100 years. And millions of dollars in revenue was generated over the years and generations of memories for the families and a self sustaining community and commerce thrived in the summer.

Enter taxation after the war and some 40 years ago or more someone decided this is not such a good idea any more and started removing the cottages at the tax payers expense and letting the land go back to nature for no one to enjoy but the birds and animals. It was never just a nature preserve it was a place for families to be together and the reason people were lured there in the first place.

Now with less income generated the more gate fees went up and people are no longer flocking to Rondeau. Maybe the Ministry of Natural resources wants it that way. After all their mandate is not parks and recreation it's preserving nature. Much asking an orthodontist to deliver a baby...wrong end!

I am not suggesting they don't do a great job preserving the park lands they do. But there should be discussions on how to co exist instead of just removing them entirely.

Perhaps getting rid of the Lighthouse barrier in Erieau should be higher on the list. That structure is causing the erosion that has already taken some 600 feet of land from the end of the park lands by preventing the natural silting process that was deposited on the peninsula that created the spit in the first place.

Rondeau has existed in harmony with nature there for one hundred plus years. None of the reasons why Parks wants to get rid of the cottagers makes sense. I personally love to go there and visit the cottages and the people who live in them embody what Rondeau is.

What a shame to destroy that.

If the park is such a burden to the province then let the Municipality of C-K take it over and give it back to the people to enjoy for another 100 years.

I just don't get the point of buying all that property from the owners at the tax payers expense to remove a piece of history and do nothing with it except charge visitors more money to do nothing and see less.

There must be a better alternative, but for now I am happy to know that there is a possibility to be able to enjoy that for a few more years to come.

[Original Comment ID: 128671]