A Windsor city councillor is wondering what the status is of the Ojibway National Urban Park following last month's federal election.
Ward 1 councillor Fred Francis has asked administration for a status report and to see if there's anything the city can do to move the project forward.
He says Brian Masse and Irek Kusmierczyk both pushed for the park but are no longer members of parliament.
Francis says he's sure newly elected MPs Kathy Borrelli and Harb Gill will work with the city to make the park happen but says it's just a matter of getting it done.
He says he wants to know 'what's left to do' to make Ojibway National Urban Park happen.
"I think it's important we see where we are with respect to the status of a national urban park at Ojibway and what the city can do now to move that ball across the goal line," he says.
Francis says he plans to reach out to the newly elected MPs.
"I'm sure they're going to pick up the ball and run towards the goal line to make sure the national urban park at Ojibway occurs but until they get up to speed on this file and until we can have conversations with them personally, I think the onus is on the city to take the leadership role on this to inform city council of where we are with making Ojibway Park a national urban park," says Francis.
He believes it's important all levels of government get on the same page.
"This is something that many people, not just me but many people have worked on for years, be it elected officials or just committed volunteers or environmentalists," he says. "So we all got to work together on this to make sure it happens, doesn't matter if there's an election change or not, this is too important for the people of Windsor for us to ignore it, forget it."
Francis says local MPPs Andrew Dowie and Lisa Gretzky also support the urban park.
During the federal election campaign, Harb Gill said he supports the park and will see that it is federally protected.
Last spring, the federal government pledged $36.1-million over 5-years to establish an Ojibway National Urban Park.
This past March, Canada's previous Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault visited Windsor to reaffirm the $36.1 million in funding for the park, along with $4.6 million in annual operating funds.
At that time, the government indicated that the funding will help establish the park by the end of 2025 and in the event an election is called, the minister said the funding has already been secured.