Algonquin Provincial Park - power access

Yes - it is sad - even angering - that Obatanga was closed.

Our relationship with Obatanga goes back to the late 60's - before the campground was expanded, before the installation of electrical pedestals, comfort station, amphitheatre and even before a pumphouse was put in. Seemed a fairly comfortably used campground at the time and through the years it always remained one of our favourite Parks even though we visited it only intermittently (Neys, Rossport Campground and Agawa Campground are tough competition - agree with your comments on White Lake).

Obatanga seems to have suffered a classic case of over-development - of "if you build it they will come" - but they didn't - heck of a hard lesson ..... having said that .... there had to have been other ways of dealing with its issues rather than shutting the entire campground down.


Jay

RangerJay wrote:
It is unfortunate that any Parks were closed at all.

Ontario seems to have forgotten that its Parks were originally set aside for environmental and social purposes - purposes that included Protection, Recreation, Heritage Appreciation and Tourism - nowhere in that mandate was Revenue Generation .....


Jay

Not sure about the others but we watched Obatanga do a slow death over the decades that we used it, we saw the amphitheater return to the forest and other services there slowly disappear. The electrical sites that they installed there were put in "unfortunate" locations and weren't used. Not sure why the occupancy rate was low, it was a better provincial park than White Lake PP up the road, maybe the fishing at White Lake is better and explains the higher occupancy there.

It is unfortunate that any Parks were closed at all.

Ontario seems to have forgotten that its Parks were originally set aside for environmental and social purposes - purposes that included Protection, Recreation, Heritage Appreciation and Tourism - nowhere in that mandate was Revenue Generation .....


Jay

shum02 wrote:

atreis wrote:
Mildly confused here... Has Ontario re-opened the parks they closed a couple years ago? Obatanga, Rene Brunelle, a handful of others?

Thanks.

Northern Parks closed due to very low attendance.

Northern Ontario Parks

They kept them open for many years beforehand. "Closed due to low attendance" is just another way to say that they were closed because they were too expensive to operate relative to the revenue they generated. (If it wasn't about revenue, they could have just decreased the number of sites available to better match demand.)

To say that Ontario hasn't ever closed parks is disingenuous. I'm not saying they shouldn't have closed them - not my place to judge that - just that there have been statements of financial conditions of the PPs in Ontario made here that haven't been accurate.

BTW, IMO, Ontario has some of the nicest parks anywhere. The rates are significantly higher than most SPs, but I happily pay.

.

shum02 wrote:

JaxDad wrote:

shum02 wrote:
Must have worked because while U.S. State parks where shutting down campgrounds during the "economic downturn" the largest park system in North America kept all it's campgrounds open.

There's a reason Ontario is (give or take) $287 BILLION dollars in debt.

To put that in perspective, that's more than all the other Provinces debts COMBINED.

But all the parks are still open..........

You misunderstand I think. Ontario Parks receive some of, if not the lowest subsidies from tax dollars in North America. They did not stay open because of tax money but because they actually get next to none. Less than 15% per camp site as apposed to close to 45% for some U.S Parks.

Yes, that's what I said earlier, they had to economically stand on their own. Politicians salaries, benefits and pensions meant more than things like Provincial Parks.

The spending to buy votes, instead of supporting parks created a record debt.

BTW, lots of parks closed, even recently the Leslie Frost Center, one of Canada's first dedicated Ranger training centers and a hugely popular educational center.

Provincial Parks closed to camping.

atreis wrote:
Mildly confused here... Has Ontario re-opened the parks they closed a couple years ago? Obatanga, Rene Brunelle, a handful of others?

Thanks.

Northern Parks closed due to very low attendance.

Northern Ontario Parks

JaxDad wrote:

shum02 wrote:
Must have worked because while U.S. State parks where shutting down campgrounds during the "economic downturn" the largest park system in North America kept all it's campgrounds open.

There's a reason Ontario is (give or take) $287 BILLION dollars in debt.

To put that in perspective, that's more than all the other Provinces debts COMBINED.

But all the parks are still open..........

You misunderstand I think. Ontario Parks receive some of, if not the lowest subsidies from tax dollars in North America. They did not stay open because of tax money but because they actually get next to none. Less than 15% per camp site as apposed to close to 45% for some U.S Parks.

Mildly confused here... Has Ontario re-opened the parks they closed a couple years ago? Obatanga, Rene Brunelle, a handful of others?

Thanks.

shum02 wrote:
Must have worked because while U.S. State parks where shutting down campgrounds during the "economic downturn" the largest park system in North America kept all it's campgrounds open.

There's a reason Ontario is (give or take) $287 BILLION dollars in debt.

To put that in perspective, that's more than all the other Provinces debts COMBINED.

But all the parks are still open..........