As you may know, 98% of Ontarians who submitted a comment on the Environmental Registry of Ontario said “no” to the land transfer of 60 hectares (roughly 60% of the beachfront) from Wasaga Beach Provincial Park to the Town of Wasaga Beach.

And as you also probably know, Doug Ford and his government went ahead and did it anyway. 

But did you know - despite what you may have heard - that the land transfer isn’t a done deal? The Town has a one-year License and Beach Maintenance Agreement. But the land still technically belongs to Ontario. 

Please sign and share this petition and stop this injustice from happening. 

For two reasons. Firstly, Canada signed the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (along with 195 other countries) committing to the protection of 30% of our lands and waters by 2030. Ontario is dead last amongst the provinces in terms of progress towards this goal. In fact, with this land transfer, it is going backward.  Wasaga Beach Provincial Park should be part of these protected lands as it always has been. Now it is slated for development.

Secondly, within this beachfront is a pristine dune system which is crucial habitat to the critically endangered Great Lakes Piping Plover. It is the most successful nesting site for this bird in all of Ontario. If the land transfer is successful, the Town of Wasaga Beach would have control over the habitat of this vulnerable species. Just last spring, Doug Ford and his government removed Ontario’s gold standard Endangered Species Act and replaced it with the much less effective Species Conservation Act. This Act is equivalent to being safe in your bedroom, but not your kitchen, living room or anywhere else you need to be in your daily life. Previous to these recent provincial and municipal actions, the Piping Plover was protected by the Ontario Parks Piping Plover Recovery Program, which stated a “one-kilometre length of continuous beach habitat (generally centred around the nest site) is required to provide the requisites for life processes” and also “the width of this continuous beach habitat would extend from the water’s edge” to the “start of any anthropogenic features such as parking lots”. If Piping Plover habitat was able to remain within the Provincial Park, Ontario Parks could reinstate their Piping Plover Recovery Program which, in conjunction with Birds Canada, has been largely responsible for this species’ return from extirpation in Ontario (and Canada).

Wasaga Beach is the longest freshwater beach in the world. Please help conserve it for generations to come and the wildlife who require it for their very existence.