North America’s Great Lakes Are A World Class Destination

During my recent tenure as Parliamentary Assistant to the Ontario Minister of Natural Resources and Forestry, I researched the status of our Great Lakes building on work I was involved in 20 years ago when I was then also Parliamentary Assistant to the Ministry of Natural Resources. At that time, much of the ministry’s work and direction was based on the results of the extensive Lands for Life consultation, which culminated in the Ontario Living Legacy Land Use Strategy.

A major project for me was continuing the good work done with respect to one of Ontario’s 10 Signature Sites – the Great Lakes Heritage Coast.

I feel we can learn from, and adapt in other areas, some of these successful initiatives to help protect and promote all of North America’s Great Lakes. For example, last year I traveled part of the beautifully-developed he North Shore Scenic Drive on the Minnesota shore of Lake Superior – part of the U.S. National Scenic Byways program. And of course Ontario’s Great Lakes Heritage Coast, the tourism and environmental planning initiative based on the province’s Living Legacy Land Use Strategy, stretching from Lake Superior’s U.S. border with Minnesota east and south through Manitoulin Island, and Georgian Bay down to the Severn River.

As with Lake Superior’s north shore, North America’s Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River Basin has undeveloped tourism potential, and has the natural environment and the ability to compete with top destinations on the planet. More than 30 million people and over 3,500 species of plants and animals inhabit our Great Lakes basin. But natural ecosystems and local economies around the lakes have deteriorated in the past, there is tremendous potential for both ecosystems and economies to be restored. North America’s Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River Basin comprise Superior, Huron, Michigan, Ontario, and Erie-the largest body of fresh water on Earth.

The Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence River Basin are shared by Ontario and Quebec in Canada and the U.S. states of Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, and Vermont. The State of Michigan alone touches four of five Great Lakes and possesses the longest freshwater shoreline in the world. North America’s Great Lakes showcase dramatic land forms and vistas, unique and sensitive coastal wetlands, rock shorelines, natural inlets, deltas, islands, beaches, wilderness rivers and waterfalls.

Lake Michigan Lookout- Arcadia, Michigan

The offerings are endless – trails, scenic lookouts, safe harbors, access points, roads, marinas, campsites and a wide range of tourism and recreation activities like camping, angling, hunting, kayaking, canoeing, sailing, power-boating, cruising, hiking, snowmobile, ATVs, mountain biking, wildlife viewing and nature appreciation, ice and rock climbing, golf, cross-country skiing, . . . A rich and diverse cultural and economic heritage is also associated with our Great Lakes.

Trading posts, logging camps, ghost towns, old docking areas, shipwrecks and lighthouses abound.

There are beautiful parks and protected areas. Attractions range from the mystical to the spectacular with Aboriginal spiritual sites; marine museums; working marine industrial ; and the lure of such cities such as Chicago, Toronto, Detroit, Buffalo, Erie, Cleveland and Thunder Bay. Enhancing tourism and the area’s natural attributes can further protect and promote our Great Lakes – St. Lawrence River Basin communities where economic stability and growth have all too often passed them by. For the Silo, Toby Barrett MPP Haldimand-Norfolk.

Featured image- Hollow Rock,Lake Superior,Ontario – hollowrockresort.com

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4 responses to “North America’s Great Lakes Are A World Class Destination”

  1. Toby Barrett Avatar
    Toby Barrett

    UPDATE Let’s try a new approach to our lakes and rivers?

    As a long-time legislator, I have been involved in many debates and clashes of conflicting and competing interests over the years involving our lakes and rivers.

    Ontario is blessed with 250,000 lakes which play a central role in our history, our heritage and culture, and in our fishing-, transportation- and tourism-based economies. Our incredible water legacy impacts our patterns of settlement, our economic activity, and our quality of life.

    Recently, two Ontario water-related documents crossed my desk: Bill 5, titled York Region Wastewater Act, resulted from the impact of a rapidly-growing population and its possible effect on Lake Simcoe and the Great Lakes. Secondly, a Port Dover Maple Leaf article by Hannah Harrison titled ‘Has the time now come to protect our “Blue Belt”?’, raises the proposal of a new concept to protect our Great Lakes fishing heritage and economy.

    Bill 5 puts a pause to York Region’s environmental assessment application to give time for an expert advisory panel to present options to deal with the environmental, social and financial impacts of wastewater produced in Ontario’s third largest municipality. This rapidly growing area is expected to reach 1.5 million people in 10 years.

    The Blue Belt proposal suggests many of the same protections and multi-pronged policy approaches to Great Lakes economies, culture and food systems that are found in Ontario’s Green Belt for agricultural and environmentally-sensitive lands subject to urban sprawl and development.

    Further to this, I have introduced and debated a piece of proposed legislation titled The Great Lakes Protection and Promotion Act. Coupled with the Blue Belt concept, there is potential to open the door for future work, analysis and action based on a number of principles: involve people and all levels of government; focus on the needs of the lakes and their tributaries regardless of whether they be in Ontario, Pennsylvania or Wisconsin; emphasize communication and consultation; stay away from overlap and duplication; lean toward strong monitoring and science; and learn from past successes.

    Frameworks and laws are already in place. For example, Harrison proposes broadening Ontario’s right to farm legislation—the Farming and Food Production Protection Act—to also conserve, protect and encourage the development and improvement of Ontario’s commercial fisheries and their normal practices and essential infrastructure.

    She also makes the case for zoning modernization to safeguard waterfront access and infrastructure for the marine trades and water-dependent businesses. This approach to zoning helps prevent some types of development, such as residential or commercial that don’t require water access, from encroaching on waterfronts.

    Like the Farming and Food Production Protection Act, there are other applicable laws and guidance documents in place. Provincial and municipal policy statements deal with land use planning. There is the Nutrient Management Act and the Ontario Heritage Act. There is the Clean Water Act, the Safeguarding and Sustaining Ontario’s Water Act, the Lake Simcoe Protection Act, the Great Lakes Protection Act and, of course, my Private Members Bill—The Great Lakes Protection and Promotion Act.

    We can focus on the Great Lakes—on both sides of the border, and we can also include lakes Simcoe, Nipigon, Nipissing and St. Clair—as well as the other 250,000 lakes, and their watersheds where applicable.

    If we are to continue to Green Belt, and hopefully Blue Belt, our approaches to a rapidly populating Ontario we must address the challenges and the opportunities—the conflicts and the potential for alignment among competing interests.

    Toby Barrett MPP for Haldimand-Norfolk.

  2. Toby Barrett Avatar
    Toby Barrett

    Ontario invests over $1.9 million to protect and restore the Great Lakes

    Example- Three local projects receive funding from the Ministry of Environment, Conservation and Parks

    PORT DOVER — Three area initiatives were among 44 community-based projects to receive $1.9 million in funding through the Great Lakes Local Action Fund, which supports local projects that protect and restore the Great Lakes.

    Environment Minister David Piccini’s funding of farming and forestry projects in our watershed is welcome news for our part of Lake Erie. Money for a third project to monitor nutrient loading in the Lynn River from the Simcoe wastewater treatment plant is long overdue.

    “The health of the Great Lakes is closely connected to our province’s health and prosperity – supplying water to our communities, sustaining traditional activities of Indigenous peoples and providing healthy ecosystems for recreation and tourism,” said David Piccini, Minister of the Environment, Conservation and Parks. “This funding allows local organizations and groups to take environmental actions in their own communities – building a better future with clean, green growth.”

    The 44 projects are led by community-based organizations, municipalities, conservation authorities and Indigenous communities and organizations across Ontario, from Ottawa to Thunder Bay. Projects were selected following a competitive review process.

    Area projects are:

    ALUS Norfolk, who will work with farmers to restore land throughout Long Point Watershed in Norfolk County to reduce agricultural impacts on Lake Erie.

    Haldimand Stewardship Council will engage community members to enhance and protect ecosystems and species through planting trees on marginal and abandoned lands.
    Norfolk County will monitor phosphorous loadings from the Simcoe wastewater treatment plant which discharges into the Lynn River and then into Lake Erie.

    Supporting local actions that protect the Great Lakes is a key commitment in our plan to protect our land, air and water.

    Quick Facts
    Ontario launched a call for applications for the Great Lakes Local Action Fund in the fall of 2020.
    20 per cent of the world’s fresh water is found in the Great Lakes, making it the largest lake system in the world.
    95 per cent of the province’s agricultural lands are in the basin of the Great Lakes.

    The Governments of Canada and Ontario recently signed the ninth Canada-Ontario Agreement on Great Lakes Water Quality and Ecosystem Health, which sets out specific actions each government will take to protect and restore the Great Lakes.

    Ontario invests approximately $14 million per year in actions to protect and restore the Great Lakes, including projects that support commitments in the Canada-Ontario Agreement on Great Lakes Water Quality and Ecosystem Health and Ontario’s Great Lakes Strategy.

    For more information, contact MPP Toby Barrett at 519-428-0446 or toby.barrett@pc.ola.org Please mention The Silo when contacting.

  3. Toby Barrett Avatar
    Toby Barrett

    I am pleased with funding flowing into Great Lakes

    QUEEN’S PARK –During Question Period last week, I asked Jeff Yurek, Minister of the Environment, Conservation and Parks, to discuss the ways the Ontario
    government is protecting and restoring North America’s Great Lakes as they face pollutants, excess nutrients and invasive species.

    I was pleased with Minister Yurek’s responses to my questions regarding the actions he, and our government, is taking to protect and restore our precious Great Lakes. I’m particularly happy to see the level of funding flowing into the initiatives.
    https://youtu.be/dqt5Hzs8v-Y

    Minister Yurek reiterated the commitment of the government’s Made-in-Ontario Environment Plan to protect and restore Great Lakes water quality.

    The Ontario government is funding approximately $5.8 million this year to support
    more than 65 projects run by local communities, academics, Indigenous communities
    and various organizations across Ontario that focus on improving water quality. It
    also investing up to $1.67 million for the new Great Lakes Local Action Fund. This
    will provide up to $50,000 for projects led by local groups to protect and restore
    coastal shorelines and near-shore areas of the Great Lakes and the rivers and
    streams that feed into them.

    I look forward to the results of these initiatives as the Great Lakes are
    critical to both our economy and natural habitat. The Great Lakes attract millions
    of residents and visitors every year; they also provide safe drinking water for over
    70% of the people in Ontario. Their watersheds support 4,000 species of fish, birds
    and other living things.

    For more information, please contact me
    toby.barrett@pc.ola.org & mention The Silo when contacting.

  4. Toby Barrett Avatar
    Toby Barrett

    My Private Member Bill to Protect and Promote North America’s Great Lakes

    Building on the work of so many over the years to help promote and protect our Great Lakes – on Dec. 11, 2019 – I introduced an Ontario Private Member’s Bill to enhance the promotion and protection of North America’s Great Lakes.

    As explained in the proposed legislation, “The Bill amends the Great Lakes Protection Act, 2015 to change its title to the Great Lakes Protection and Promotion Act, 2019 and to add the promotion of tourism and other economic activities in the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River Basin that respect the ecological health of the Basin as a purpose of the Act.”

    Ontario Bill 166, referred to as The Great Lakes Protection and Promotion Act, is a means to an end – to continue to raise awareness of the possibilities and potential of North America’s Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River Basin.

    My goal is to work to develop a collaborative action plan and framework to serve as model for all interested Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River Basin agencies, jurisdictions, communities, and governments to promote tourism, recreational activities and sustainable economic growth and development while protecting the pristine environment, ecological diversity, and the scenic, cultural, and historical beauty of North America’s Great Lakes.

    Our Great Lakes offer landscapes that afford superb recreational and tourism opportunities. This can be a way to assist communities that have lost mining, forestry, industrial, or commercial activity but have the potential to enhance and capitalize on their natural environment for their economic benefit.

    Part of the goal is to support a positive traveler experience. For example, improved infrastructure and lodging, enhanced access for recreation, enhanced digital-interpretive opportunities through social media, and digital tools like Google Maps and Google Trail.

    The Great Lakes are important to 30 million people for our drinking water, quality of life, jobs and prosperity. Ontario has worked collaboratively with Canadian, US and local partners for half a century to protect and restore Great Lakes and water quality and ecosystem health.

    Ontario’s 2012 Great Lakes Strategy outlines Ontario’s economic, social, and environmental priorities for the Great Lakes region, aligning priorities and contributions from 14 Ontario ministries. The strategy is currently under review.

    Key amendments proposed by my Private Member’s Bill include:

    * Guidelines to determine tourism and other economic activities respect the ecological health of the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River Basin
    * Plans to create and distribute publicly standardized educational materials on the guidelines
    * Plans to promote research to determine what tourism and other economic activities respect the ecological health o the basin
    * Plans to promote international symposia to provide education to the public on the guidelines developed
    * Programs for government to fund as the Minister of Environment considers appropriate, research or international symposia out of funds appropriated by the government and
    * Programs to encourage fundraising from non-government sources to fund research or international symposia.

    Boosting travel and awareness of these destinations will help maintain current jobs and create new jobs and economic opportunities, generating a ripple effect throughout the whole region, by protecting and promoting these inland seas.

    For more information contact me at toby.barrett@pc.ola.org Please mention the Silo when contacting.

    Toby Barrett is MPP for Haldimand-Norfolk

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