Dear Jim,

By now, I’m sure you’ve seen the news that the Ontario government recently announced plans to sell off 140 acres of public land in Wasaga Beach, including 60% of the beachshore lands that are currently protected as one of our most popular Provincial Parks. These lands provide critical habitat for rare and endangered species, offer natural protection against erosion, and are essential to the health of the Nottawasaga Bay ecosystem.

But it doesn’t stop there.

The Ontario government is also attempting to weaken the very law that protects all Provincial Parks, the Provincial Parks and Conservation Reserves Act (PPCRA).- While the wording of the amendments is still secret, we are concerned that they will propose legislative amendments that could allow the removal of parkland across Ontario, without proper public oversight or a vote by elected officials.

This is yet another example of the Ontario government treating Ontario’s wildlife, natural areas and environmental future as disposable.

Environmental Defence has begun a province-wide awareness campaign through radio and social media ads asking Ontarians to send letters to their MPPs to demand hands off Wasaga Beach. But we need to do more. With your support, we want to amplify the story by creating a broader public awareness campaign, including more radio and social media ads, as well as billboard advertising. We are ready to ramp up this campaign, but we need to raise $50,000 for it. The more we raise, the more we can ensure that all people in Ontario know about this urgent issue and can reach out to their MPP. Will you help us?

It is appalling that the current government is trying to give away critically important areas of our most popular Provincial Park beachfront and make it easy to give more parkland away in the future. The transfer of Wasaga Beach’s public land would mean a loss of ecological values, including:

• Habitat of the endangered piping plover, classified as an endangered species under provincial and federal law.

• Mature dunes, which act as natural shields against flooding and erosion, play a crucial role as the climate changes.

• Significant vegetation communities and wetlands

• “The Point”, an area designated as a provincially significant Area of Natural and Scientific Interest (ANSI).

The Ontario government’s proposed changes can’t happen until the Legislature returns in mid-October, which is why we need to urgently create increased awareness and help people tell their MPP what they think about the sale of the Wasaga Beach Provincial Parkland, as well as any regressive changes to the PPCRA that would weaken protection for our treasured system of publicly-owned Provincial Parks. As we saw with the Greenbelt, public knowledge leads to action that delivers results. We have two months to build as much pressure as possible, and that’s where you come in.

Provincial parks belong to the people of Ontario and should remain protected, not sold for development schemes. I hope you will help us raise $50,000 so we can launch our impactful public awareness campaign to amplify the message that Wasaga Beach is not for sale.

Together, we can ensure that the Ontario government reverses course and protects the iconic Wasaga Beach and all provincial parks.