The proposal to transfer…

The proposal to transfer land from Wasaga Beach Provincial Park to the Town of Wasaga Beach is a bad idea and should be abandoned. The lands include almost half of the beachfront portion of the park and some of the best piping plover habitat in the park. Wasaga Beach has been the best habitat in Ontario for piping plovers, an endangered species recognized by the province since 2008. In fact, since 2007 over half of the successful piping plover fledglings in Ontario have been raised in Wasaga Beach Provincial Park.

Transferring beach lands to the town would weaken protections for this bird, especially as the town as said that they wish to increase tourism by developing parts of the beach. Even something as simple as mechanical raking of the beach or dunes to "clean it up for people" would impact the birds. We have seen this at Sauble Beach, where that town raked their beach a few years ago and the numbers of nesting plovers dropped immediately. The beach and fate of the birds is much better handled by the province with the help of outside experts such as Birds Canada. Through careful partnerships, the birds can be protected while still welcoming visitors. This idea puts that co-existence at risk.

For this reason, I oppose this transfer and ask that it be dropped.