Province gave no warning of park closures: mayor

A municipal leader in the northeast says cuts to provincial parks will impact his community and hurt tourism.

Starting next spring, 10 provincial parks across Ontario will no longer have overnight camping access. Kapuskasing Mayor Al Spacek said he heard the news that the Rene Brunelle Provincial Park would no longer offer overnight camping the same day the province released the news to the public.

Spacek said there was no consultation between the province and municipalities — and the local RV business owners have expressed concerns.

"They said one of the biggest limitations is lack of available camping areas in northern Ontario," he said.

The Minister of Natural Resources said the affected parks have very low visitation rates. Michael Gravelle said the changes will save the province more than $7 million each year and that, even with the cuts, the parks systems in the province will remain strong.

"There will continue to be 29 operating parks in northeastern Ontario and well over 80 non-operating parks," Gravelle said.

Job losses

But Spacek said he's upset by the decision and noted it will negatively impact the northeast.

"It can't be the money," he said. "They're spending hundreds of millions of dollars to re-locate power plants."

Parks near Hearst, Cochrane, Foleyet, Elliot Lake, Wawa, Kapuskasing, Chapleau and Moosonee are all affected.

"When you look on the map of the parks that will be closed, there's going to be huge gaps with nothing available in northern Ontario," Spacek continued. "It's very frustrating."

Gravelle said the changes will cut seven full-time jobs and more than 70 seasonal or summer student positions.