Inspired by Windsor’s legacy of protecting the Ojibway Prairie Complex, the MPP for Windsor-Tecumseh wants to see a new urban park classification provincially.
Andrew Dowie introduced Bill 193, the Provincial Parks and Conservation Reserves Amendment Act, 2024, this week.
The legislation, if passed, would introduce a new urban park classification to the Provincial Parks system that will support the proposed Uxbridge Urban Provincial Park and opportunities for future urban provincial parks.
The new classification would be the first time the province protected significant biodiversity and nature-based recreation services within or near large urban areas.
The vision of Ontario's Provincial Parks system is to include ecosystems that are representative of all of Ontario’s natural regions, to protect provincially significant elements of natural and cultural heritage, to maintain biodiversity and to provide opportunities for compatible, ecologically sustainable recreation.
The introduction of the urban provincial park classification would also further support the work of the federal government in its efforts to designate national urban parks.
Dowie says this is all about making the process simpler.
"To make sure that the next opportunities to develop an Urban Provincial Park will be a lot easier to get through because we'll have a designated classification should the bill pass. That means it'll fit into the box that the civil service often really needs to rely upon to enforce the different rules of government," he said.
He says where this bill would come in handy is in situations where the federal government wasn't interested in developing a national urban park but the province was.
"The province would now have a mechanism to go down that road and work with the different local stakeholders and partners to identify land for a park, identify the opportunities for recreation, and the biodiversity that should be protected therein."
Dowie says the Uxbridge Urban Provincial Park is in an urban area, almost directly adjacent to the built up area of the township.
"You could walk there from where the residences are, it would be very similar in description to the Devonwood Conservation Area. The exciting part about Uxbridge Urban Provincial Park is that it'll bring forward hiking trails and opportunities to enjoy the natural environment in a slightly more developed way, as we'd have formal trails," he said.
Second reading for Bill 193, where it will be debated and considered by the provincial legislature, will take place on May 29.
- with files from AM800's The Shift with Patty Handysides