Collingwood, ON, July 30, 2025—The Escarpment Corridor Alliance (ECA) expresses strong concern about the Ontario government’s proposed legislation to remove over one hundred acres, or 60% of the entire beachfront lands, from Wasaga Beach Provincial Park. This legislation could set a dangerous precedent, enabling future removals of Provincial Park land across Ontario without the current level of oversight.
The Ontario government, through its primary legislation and in official administrative and educational materials, explicitly uses language such as ‘permanently protect’ and ‘protect in perpetuity’ to express its commitment to the lasting protection of provincial parks, says Bruce Harbinson, President of the ECA. “What we see unfold in Wasaga sadly contradicts a long tradition of environmental stewardship in this province.”
Wasaga Beach Provincial Park
“What we see unfold in Wasaga sadly contradicts a long tradition of environmental stewardship in this province.”
Says Bruce Harbinson, President and co-founder of the ECA
Provincial Parks have a long history in Ontario. First established in 1893 with the creation of Algonquin Provincial Park, Ontario is home to over 330 provincial parks today. During its 130 years of park expansion, only once was land removed from the Province’s park land designation as part of an indigenous land claim settlement following the Ipperwash crisis by the Liberal McGuinty government in 2007.
Apart from this indigenous land claim settlement, park space has been expanded, and land has been protected for Ontarians in perpetuity. Now, however, the Ford government is leading another initiative to deregulate environmental protections through legislation that would remove 148 acres of waterfront property from Wasaga Beach Provincial Park so it can be transferred to the Town of Wasaga for future development. Even more concerning is that this legislation would allow large portions of provincial parks across Ontario to be removed without legislative approval and with minimal public consultation, study, and oversight.
“The ECA supports the Town of Wasaga’s revitalization goals, but we believe that a sustainable tourist economy can be established without reducing the amount of protected natural areas,” says Harbinson. “Conserving nature and supporting the local economy should not be mutually exclusive but should go hand in hand.”
Conservationists and environmentalists in this Province are concerned for good reason.
Since being elected in 2018, the Ontario Conservative government has dismantled critical environmental protections in Ontario. They have abolished the Office of the Environmental Commissioner of Ontario, removed Ontario’s key climate change legislation, cancelled hundreds of renewable energy projects, weakened environmental assessment processes, cut back public participation in environmental decision-making, undermined conservation authorities’ watershed protection mandates, repealed species protection laws, and established mechanisms to exempt preferred projects from environmental laws entirely.
“The ECA would ask that the Ford government withdraw this legislation and, in its place, commit to what Ontarians want, a sustained commitment to conserving our precious remaining natural landscapes.”
Wasaga Beach Provincial Park
“Given this track record, along with the recent Greenbelt fiasco, this latest carve-out of land from environmental protections for development warrants extra scrutiny. The ECA would ask that the Ford government withdraw this legislation and, in its place, commit to what Ontarians want, a sustained commitment to conserving our precious remaining natural landscapes. This should include an expansion, not contraction, of our Provincial Park system and more aggressive financial support for successful programs like the Ontario Greenlands Conservation Partnership.” says Harbinson.
For more information, please contact: [email protected].
