Letter: Yes, Georgian Bay Is at Risk — And Not Just From Industry
A local resident urges a broader conversation about cumulative impacts on Georgian Bay, beyond TC Energy's industrial project.
LETTER TO THE EDITOR
To the Editor,
I just wanted to send a quick note in response to David Wood’s recent commentary on TC Energy’s proposed pumped storage project near Meaford.
I am not writing to support the project, nor am I writing to oppose it. Letters like his, and the project itself, raise important questions about shoreline development and sensitive ecosystems.
Setting aside my professional roles, I am writing personally as a long-time resident, outdoor enthusiast, and someone who has bounced around many places only to land back in the area because of my deep attachment to Georgian Bay and, to a larger extent, Lake Huron.
I agree with Dave that the rollback of environmental protections under Bill 5 and Bill C-5 is deeply concerning. These decisions weaken safeguards designed to protect species, wetlands, and communities, and leave local voices with fewer tools to hold industry accountable. On that point, he is absolutely right.
That said, there is an uncomfortable truth that often gets overlooked in conversations about projects like this one. While there is a huge focus on the pumped storage proposal, the quieter cumulative impacts on Georgian Bay are continuing to build up.
The small, incremental changes that accumulate over time are just as damaging. Cliché, maybe, but it really is a “death by a thousand paper cuts” when it comes to environmental stressors.
I find it hypocritical that many advocacy messages describe the Bay as “pristine” and call for an immediate stop to “industrial intrusion.” Yet at the same time, we see appeals to shoreline property owners —“if you care about your cottage” — and campaigns to “protect lakeside living.”
There is an unfortunate tension there. Enjoying the Bay, maintaining cottages, and upgrading amenities all put negative pressure on the same ecosystem that people say they want to protect.
Maybe it’s time for a more balanced approach where cottage owners, full-time residents, public agencies, conservation groups, and even fleet and infrastructure operators all take small, consistent steps. Because more often than not, it is the accumulation of the little things that outpaces the impact of the big projects.
What about re-evaluating shoreline development, privatization, palatial homes and subdivisions, gated communities, marinas, and private boat slips or break walls for every shoreline cottage or homeowner?
The same goes for shoreline hardening, retaining walls, armour stone, and concrete lines that erase the natural edge.
Then there is the quieter stuff: boat waste discharge, failing septic systems, and overdevelopment in sheltered bays. These are all well-documented stressors on near-shore water quality in Georgian Bay.
We also cannot ignore the impacts of tourism and recreation. The very activities that connect people to the Bay, such as boating, short-term rentals, waterfront tourism, and festivals, also strain it. More docks, more wake, more fuel on the water, more shoreline crowding. Love for this place should not mean smothering it.
Take, for example, habitat loss in southern Georgian Bay. Nursery marshes once used by native fish species along many shorelines have been disappearing, largely due to shoreline development and maintenance, including dredging, in reaction to fluctuating water levels, so that people can have a boat at their back step.
This is not an isolated story. Local planning documents highlight how rapid growth, tourism, and shoreline change threaten wetlands and the Bay’s overall ecological health.
If we truly care about preserving Georgian Bay, it is not only the headline infrastructure projects we need to watch. It is the day-to-day decisions, the maintenance work, property upgrades, boathouses, docks, and landscaping choices that collectively change the Bay’s character and ecology.
If we are serious about protecting Georgian Bay, we need to look harder at how new development shapes it. Replacing natural shorelines with walls and armour stone, building larger homes and private slips, and carving up the waterfront for gated communities and marinas all change the Bay far more than one industrial project ever could.
Restoration, not expansion, should be the goal. Keep natural vegetation, repair what is already built, and stop pushing the shoreline further into the lake. These are the choices that matter because every new build, every hard edge, and every manicured view chips away at what makes Georgian Bay worth protecting in the first place.
My point is not to defend or condemn any single project, but to invite a broader perspective. Yes, we should ask tough questions about the big developments, but even tougher questions about the thousands of smaller choices, and the privileges that come with them, that, in aggregate, shape the future of Georgian Bay.
Thank you for publishing work that keeps these issues alive in public conversation.
Warm regards,
Sasha Fernando
Owen Sound
Letters to the Editor do not necessarily reflect the opinions or beliefs of The Owen Sound Current and its editor or publisher.
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