'Hollow election promises:' NDP MP, Windsor mayor cast doubt on 2025 opening of Ojibway National Urban Park

Windsor's mayor and an area MP say a weekend announcement by the federal environment minister committing to opening Ojibway National Urban Park this year was a "hollow pre-election promise" and said nothing had materially changed in the status of the park for years. 

"So seeing the announcement and the minister coming here and making a re-announcement about funding that was already approved in the budget, it doesn't give us a lot of hope that this is going to happen by the fall of 2025 because there is a lot of work that is required to be done," Dilkens said. 

"This work needs to happen and I want to reaffirm our commitment to seeing the national urban park happen. We have been proud stewards of this land since 1957. There is no way we were walking away or giving up on that prospect today. But we need to see work happen and they can't be hollow pre election promises."

Federal environment Minister Steven Guilbeault was in Windsor on Saturday, re-announcing funding for the national urban park, saying it would be open this year. The funding, $36.1 million over five years and about $4 million in annual funding going forward, was first announced in the 2024 federal budget about a year ago. 

Liberal Windsor-Tecumseh MP Irek Kusmierczyk later said he is pushing for the park to open this fall. 

"This year we're going to have an Ojibway National Urban Park that's open," he said.

He added at the time that Parks Canada is now fully resourced to sign the agreements and get governance agreements in place.

But Dilkens says the city is the largest landowner in the lands that will become the park — and they haven't had talks with Parks Canada since 2022, when the city supported Masse's private members' bill to create the park. 

"You've got willing partners. This isn't a function of the city not being on board," Dilkens said. "We want to see this happen, help us make it happen … We need to be making sure that this gets over the finish line, if there's any hope that this is going to happen in 2025."

There are two avenues to get the national park established that have played out side by side in Windsor: One through changes to Parks Canada policy, which is the process the Liberal government is going through.

But Masse has advocated for a legislative process and introduced a private members' bill to create the park. He says that more completely protects the park and puts it on even footing with other national parks, including nearby Point Pelee.

The federal government only currently owns Ojibway Shores, while Masse says his private members' bill incorporates five other parcels into the bill that would eventually form the park.  

But that bill is stalled while Parliament is prorogued. 

From here, Masse said the bill could be passed relatively quickly through unanimous consent — and says he's had conversations with colleagues around that — or through an order in council. 

In response to comments by Masse and Dilkens, Kusmierczyk said a notable milestone was the authorization of transfer of funds by the Treasury Board to Parks Canada, which he says happened just days before Guilbeault's announcement. 

"We're really entering that key phase where Parks Canada now has the funding, it's in their bank account and they have now the funds and they have the power to be able to enter into agreements to be able to acquire land if they need, to be able to hire people to open and operate an Ojibway national urban park," he said, noting he still believes its possible to open the park this fall.