Masse’s private MP bill calls for Windsor national urban park

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With angry protesters just a few kilometers away at the closed-down biggest trade crossing in North America, local MP Brian Masse was in snowy and serene Ojibway Park, announcing his private member’s bill to create a new national urban park.

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“We need some good news, a breath of fresh air,” Masse (NDP — Windsor West) said Wednesday ahead of introducing proposed legislation in a virtual link with the House of Commons, also currently located next to idling trucks and protesters demonstrating against vaccine mandates.

Bill C-248, An Act to amend the Canada National Parks Act (Ojibway National Urban Park), “is the culmination of years if not decades of work by many residents of this region fighting to protect this unique ecosystem,” Masse said of the proposed 900-acre (364-hectare) national urban park in west Windsor.

The federal Liberal government announced last summer its intentions to create a series of national urban parks, including one in Windsor, but Masse said it’s all just “fly-by-night” political talk that could change with an election call.

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“This makes it a real park. Without legislation, this is just a temporary area of ​​agreement,” he said of his bill and of the government’s current commitment.

Masse had similarly lobbied for years to get single-game sports betting legalized, the federal government had similarly pledged to get it approved, but the law only changed last year after a similar private member’s bill from the opposition.

Masse’s bill includes Ojibway Shores, currently controlled by the local port authority, but he said everything in the proposed national park is publicly owned.

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Legislation has to either be created or amended in order for Windsor to get its national urban park, he said. Knowing the property will be protected forever, Masse added, would raise interest levels and investment and other opportunities from non-governmental organizations and the private sector.

“It’s exciting — it creates new avenues and ecotourism opportunities that would surround the area,” he said.

While “the odds are always stacked against private member’s bills,” said Masse, he’s confident “this is going to get done” during the current parliamentary session.

He hopes the proposed bill will be voted on and sent to committee before the spring.

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