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More than half of the Wasaga Beach shoreline could be opened to development
by Eric Wickham, Ontario Reporter
July 29, 2025
Doug Ford’s provincial government is set to make changes to the Provincial Parks and Conservation Reserves Act as part of a move that would see the majority of the beachfront removed from Wasaga Beach Provincial Park. The plan is to turn the land over to the local municipality, which could then take steps towards developing it.
“Provincial parks are meant to be protected and managed to maintain their ecological integrity, and they’re dedicated to the people of Ontario,” said Tim Gray, executive director of Environmental Defence, which has raised alarm bells about the proposal. “They’re meant to be protected forever.”
According to the group, about 60% of the shoreline would be removed from Wasaga Beach Provincial Park.
Gray noted how unusual it is for a government to be reducing the extent of environmentally protected lands. He added that Canada has a goal of ensuring 30% of all its lands and waters are under some environmental protection by 2030, as a result of signing on to the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework along with 195 other countries in 2022.
The land proposed to be removed from the park is set to be transferred to the Town of Wasaga Beach, whose past attitude towards conservation efforts, according to Gray, is cause for concern.
“Given their previous hostility and desire to mechanically rake the beach, to destroy habitats, we can only imagine that once the land is theirs and no longer protected in the park, that they’ll make short work of it,” he said. “They have expressed opposition to it being protected when they didn’t even own it.”
Gray also noted that although it’s not clear exactly what’s going to happen to the land, the local wildlife and environment would be put at risk.
The piping plover is an endangered species that resides in Wasaga Beach Provincial Park, and its habitat is part of the land to be removed under this proposal.
Gray also noted the ecological importance of the sand dunes and shoreline habitat in the park, which on top of being unique to the area, play an important role in flood mitigation.
“When you get those big storms coming down Georgian Bay, spring, fall, winter, the dunes actually act as a barrier to, you know, waves pounding into the town itself for wind and sand and other things,” he said.
An excerpt from a map posted to Ontario’s Environmental Registry, with the areas shaded in yellow being proposed for removal from Wasaga Beach Provincial Park, while the portions in green would remain. (Ontario Parks / Environmental Registry of Ontario)
“It’s kind of a natural protective barrier that builds up along a natural beach, and so if they’re removed or replaced with parking lots, that’s going to change the dynamic there as well,” he added.
This proposed change to the provincial park is paired with a $38 million investment from the province to increase tourism in Wasaga Beach, which the Ford government has dubbed “Destination Wasaga.”
According to government data, Wasaga Beach was the most visited provincial park in three of the last four years for which figures are available.
Although Ford’s government has a majority at Queen’s Park, Gray says that anyone opposed to the park having 60% of its beachfront removed needs to get involved.
“I think on this particular issue, it’s going to require the scale of mobilization necessary to make the MPPs, in particular government MPPs, recognize that this isn’t going to be accepted by their constituents,” he said.
He added that opposition MPPs will also need to be contacted by their constituents so this issue is brought up at Queen’s Park.
“This bill will have to come to the legislature, it will have to be voted on,” he said. “It will have to go to committee, and the more eyes that are on it and the more attention that’s paid to it, then the greater chance we have of ensuring that both the attack on Wasaga doesn’t go ahead, but also the broader attack on the provincial park system is halted.”
The Town of Wasaga Beach, the premier’s office and Simcoe–Grey MPP Brian Saunderson did not respond to questions from PressProgress.
The province is currently accepting feedback on the proposal via Ontario’s Environmental Registry.
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