Wasaga passes bold motion to leave parks ministry behind

After 50 years with one ministry, Wasaga Beach wants a divorce.

Last week, Mayor Brian Smith brought the idea forward to council to bring the province and town together to review the guiding principles under which the world's longest freshwater beach was turned into a provincial park.

One of the three 'pillars' was 'to provide outdoor recreation opportunities for the people of Ontario, together with year-round tourism and economic opportunities for the town of Wasaga Beach.'

In a comment from a press release Tuesday, Smith said he believes there is a better way to manage Wasaga Beach's attributes.

"Wasaga Beach and Nancy Island are unique in the world – they do not belong under the Provincial Parks Act, which is one size fits all – they belong under a ministry with the expertise and funding envelope to collaboratively oversee and inspire the development of world-class attractions and destinations.

"This will help the town of Wasaga Beach deliver on provincial priorities and achieve our goals of becoming a complete community and a world-class, year-round Ontario destination."

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Highlights from the Smith's motion include a reference to the original Park Management Plan for Wasaga Beach Provincial Park that was established on June, 1978 which include "To expand the seasons of use of the Wasaga Beach community changing the 'peak weekends in summer' to a year-round recreation community."

The release states the original plan commits the province to revisit the Park Management Plan every five years to ensure that the vision of the municipality and the operating practices of the province remain in sync.

As the town celebrates its 50th anniversary and prepares to get shovels in the ground on its Downtown Redevelopment Master Plan, it is proposing a re-alignment with the province for the next 50 years that will help Wasaga Beach develop into a complete community and year-round tourism destination.

The town also estimates that millions of dollars of fully-serviced, provincially-owned parcels of land have been sitting vacant and have not contributed to the provincial or municipal tax base for over fifty years.

Smith's motion calls for a provincial task force to be struck with representatives from the town of Wasaga Beach, the Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks (MECP), the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Gaming(MTCG) and the Ministry of Infrastructure (Infrastructure Ontario).

The task force would review all provincial landholdings within Wasaga Beach and determine which lands should be transferred out of the MECP portfolio and put into either the MTCG, IO or the town's portfolios before the end of March 2025.

In or before the next provincial budget, Wasaga is requesting Nancy Island, Beach Areas 1 and 2, a portion of Beach Area 4, and all of the remaining non-Beach Area and non- environmentally sensitive parcels of land be transferred out of the Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks portfolio.

Council approved the motion unanimously.