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When: Committee Room 230, Legislative Assembly of Ontario

Time: 12 noon – 2pm

In August 2024, the Town of Wasaga Beach attended AMO and passed a motion calling on the Province for a new deal. This new deal must include greater investment and greater alignment between the Town and the Province regarding planning and operations at Wasaga Beach Provincial Park.

This is how it was always intended.

Collaboration and alignment was a key part of the original agreement struck in 1978 when Premier Bill Davis supported the creation of Wasaga Beach Provincial Park, which was achieved largely through expropriation. While cottages and small businesses along 14 kilometres of beachfront were bulldozed to create the province's first “park within a municipality” and provide the people of Ontario with a summer playground, the idea of ensuring alignment between the Town and the Province was front and centre. So was the promise to develop this unique "recreation class" provincial park, to enable the Town of Wasaga Beach to grow into a complete community and year-round recreation destination.

Today, that dream has not yet been realized, large parcels of provincially-owned land are sitting vacant, and provincial park infrastructure is crumbling.

Wasaga Beach Provincial Park is unique in Ontario, Canada and the world:

• It is the only provincial park fully situated within — and spread out across — 25% of the land mass of a small urban Ontario municipality.
• It is located along the coastline of a natural wonder: the longest freshwater beach in the world.
• It is home to a nationally significant historic site from the War of 1812 — Nancy Island.
• It continues to be Ontario’s most highly visited and most profitable provincial park.

Yet, over the past eight years, only $1 million has been invested in Wasaga Beach Provincial Park and Nancy Island, by the Ontario Ministry of the Environment (MECP) – just enough to keep the lights on and the toilets flushing.

While picnic tables are falling apart and no new infrastructure has been built in almost a decade, MECP has moved forward with more than $70 million in spending commitments over the next three years for new and existing provincial parks. Zero of these dollars have been allocated to Wasaga Beach Provincial Park, and the bridge to Nancy Island Historic Site continues to be condemned.

The good news? Now is the right time for a reset.

Last year, the Town of Wasaga Beach turned 50. As we celebrate the past, we're looking ahead to the future. We see a once-in-a-generation opportunity for the Town and Province to work together in close alignment on a strategy for Wasaga Beach for the next fifty years — to reimagine Wasaga Beach Provincial Park, and help our community develop into a complete community and a thriving, year-round recreation destination.

Join us on November 6 to learn more about this once-in-a-generation opportunity.

Meet Mayor Smith and our team.

• Learn how the Province can help unlock the full economic potential of Wasaga Beach.
• Listen to Mayor Brian Smith provide an update on construction of a Marriott hotel near Beach Area 1.
• See how progress is being made to reimagine and redevelop the main commercial area along our iconic Beach Drive.
• Taste beer from the Wasaga Beach Brewing Company
• Enjoy Wasaga Beach ice cream by Mr. Norm's Nephew
• Leave your business card to be entered to win free parking next summer, free swag, and discounts from made-in-Wasaga-Beach surf and paddle boards by BluWave.ca 💙