The future for the creation of an Ojibway National Urban Park is looking bright.
Canada's Minister of Environment and Climate Change, Steven Guilbeault, is expected to visit Windsor on Saturday to make an announcement related to Ojibway.
"We will have an Ojibway National Urban Park here in Windsor-Essex, mark my word, you can bet on it," Windsor-Tecumseh MP Irek Kusmierczyk told AM800's The Dan MacDonald Show.
The private members' bill to create the park, brought forward by Windsor West New Democrat MP Brian Masse, passed second reading in the senate last April, and has been in committee ever since.
There was concern for Bill C-248 when prime minister Justin Trudeau prorogued Parliament in January, however during prorogation, while all government bills effectively die, private members' bills are generally preserved, unless Parliament is dissolved for a general election, when the bill would have to be reintroduced from the beginning.
Parliament is to resume on Mar. 24, and it appears the federal government is taking action prior to the return of MPs to Ottawa.
"Happy and very proud to bring Minister Guilbeault to Windsor this weekend, and we're going to share some good news about a big step that we're taking on the Ojibway National Urban Park," Kusmierczyk said.
In January, Masse told AM800 that the bill required some amendments and needed to be sent back to the House of Commons for final approval in order to become law.
Kusmierczyk says this process is a group effort.
"We know this is a big deal for our community, and again it's a all hands on deck team effort locally to protect Ojibway National Urban Park, to build this national urban park," Kusmierczyk said.
Last spring, the federal government pledged $36.1-million over 5-years to establish an Ojibway National Urban Park, with the funding being used to open and operate it in West Windsor.
-With files from AM800's The Dan MacDonald Show with guest host Kyle Horner