Those experienced with grass root efforts like this have commented that it usually takes years to get politicians aware and publicly engaged with an issue. We have accomplished this in less than a year and that is in large part due to each of you and your respective cottage associations contributions. Thank you! While we haven’t yet reached our final ultimate outcome with Transport Canada, we are cautiously optimistic that momentum has shifted in our favor!
This email has a few bullet points summarizing progress achieved and more importantly to inform you of a critical next step in the campaign.
Progress milestones to date:
- The Coalition has directly contacted five Ministers (both federal and provincial) appealing to them to lobby directly with the Transport Minister to solve this problem. We have received acknowledgement from the Ministers that they have heard us loud and clear.
- Graydon Smith, the Ontario Minister of Natural Resources and Forestry is working with Mayor Peter Koetsier to have a face-to-face meeting with the Minister of Transport.
- Transport Canada has informed Parks Canada that they do not consider docking and steel spuds (the towers which stabilize float homes) as part of the vessel and that Parks Canada is free to charge owners for building these “shoreline works” without the requisite permits. Parks Canada is prepared to charge owners/manufacturers for these violations. Parks Canada and Transport Canada are actively meeting to coordinate their combined strategy.
- Parks Canada, which is responsible for the Trent Severn Waterway, is prepared to charge owners of these ‘vessels’ for unlawful winter storage on the waterway. While not all cottage association members of the Float Home not Vessels Coalition are on federal waterways, this is a very important step in the process.
- Lastly, and most importantly, Transport Canada through their periodic public consultations with Canadians called Let’s Talk has issued two Let’s Talk consultations related to our issues. The first one is the VORR (permitting emergency minister actions for an issue) and secondly Long Term Mooring, which is our issue.
Next Steps:
Many of you have written to the Coalition asking “How can we help? What should we do?” The answer to those questions is that our response to Transport Canada’s Let’s Talk consultations must be robust and coordinated. As was the case with the letter writing and petition campaigns, numbers matter to politicians and bureaucrats. To that end, the following is being implemented:
- The Coalition leadership team is preparing a one-page summary of our concerns and suggested solutions.
- We will issue this one-page summary in pdf format to all our cottage association executive teams for your endorsement and request that you submit it to Let’s Talk via the appropriate links they have posted. Clear directions will be provided in order to easily submit the pdf.
- We ask that each of you share the one-page summary with your membership and request that each one of them submit it to the appropriate Let’s Talk web link.
We will provide you with the one-page summary by the beginning of next week. Once again, we appreciate your participation and efforts in pushing this issue closer to the finish line.
The Float Homes Not Vessels Coalition
Float Homes Not Vessels Advocacy Update_Oct 2023
