As a person with a Master’s…

As a person with a Master’s degree in Sustainability Studies and a parent to a young child, I am deeply alarmed and disappointed by the Ontario government’s proposal to remove significant portions of Wasaga Beach Provincial Park from the protection of the Provincial Parks and Conservation Reserves Act (PPCRA).

This is not simply a matter of administrative shuffling or economic development, it is the removal of environmental protections from ecologically sensitive public lands. It is the beginning of a dangerous precedent that calls into question the future of all protected spaces in this province.

Wasaga Beach Provincial Park is not just a recreational area, it is a living ecosystem, a place of learning, a habitat for endangered species, and a climate buffer zone. These beach areas hold unique biodiversity and contribute to the health and resilience of the broader Georgian Bay watershed. Transferring them to a ministry focused on tourism and development and selling Crown lands to a municipality prioritizes short-term profit over the long-term public interest and environmental sustainability.

As someone who has spent years studying the complex relationship between environmental preservation and policy, I find it profoundly troubling that this amendment puts economic development ahead of ecological responsibility. It is exactly this kind of thinking, commodifying nature rather than valuing its intrinsic worth, that has led us into a global environmental crisis.

And as a parent, I worry deeply about the world we are leaving behind for our children. What message are we sending them when we strip protections from parks for the sake of tourism? That natural spaces are only valuable when they generate profit? That public land can be sold off when it becomes inconvenient to protect?

Our provincial parks are meant to be permanent sanctuaries, places that are preserved not just for us, but for future generations. Undoing those protections to “revitalize” or “rezone” sends a clear and harmful message: that no place is too sacred to be developed, no law too firm to be reversed, and no community too attached to be ignored.

If this amendment passes, it will not end at Wasaga Beach. It will embolden future decisions to erode protections elsewhere, piece by piece. What we need now is not less protection, but more, including stronger safeguards, better community engagement, and a clear recommitment to the principles of ecological stewardship.

I urge the government to withdraw this proposal, consult meaningfully with Indigenous communities, local residents, environmentalists, and scientists and consider the irreversible consequences of removing environmental protections in an era where protecting our planet should be the highest priority.

Our children are watching and they deserve better. We all deserve better.