Sir: I’d like to express my gratitude to the citizens of Chatham-Kent and all the taxpayers of Ontario for their continued financial and public support of the two-tiered system of privilege and access in our two oldest Ontario provincial parks.
My parents were fortunate enough to be able to purchase a Rondeau cottage for $6,000 in the 1950s and you have been there for us since the beginning; paying for our garbage collection, streetlights and road maintenance etc., providing free passes for decades, and even covering our taxes. So generous!
And don’t think the Rondeau Cottagers (Leaseholders) Association hasn’t been thinking of you, too. They’ve worked tirelessly over the years to prevent the expansion of campsites in the park and have taken on the hard work of endless complaining to end camping at the south point and to remove those extra beach access points which once existed along Lakeshore Road.
The price of maintaining all these special privileges and perks available to fewer than 600 leaseholders in Rondeau and Algonquin is constant vigilance! I’m sure you must appreciate all the time and money the RCA has spent over decades to craft a PR campaign to reshape an image of entitled leaseholders into selfless environmental stewards, the financial backbone of the C-K economy and the sole reason for the creation of this park.
You have so gracefully accepted your second-class position in the park; squeezed into a campground with little privacy, surrounded by cottages and roads, and silently accepted the imposition of the same rules and regulations which most cottagers see as harassment and evidence of a “police state.”
You even elected a local government willing to hand over $64,000 of your municipal tax dollars to complete a study and add legitimacy to a plan to permanently place cottagers in a premier position, ensure continuing damage to rare habitats and species and turn a public park into a high-end municipal subdivision. You’re the best!
I know I won’t be able to afford a tripling of all the fees required to finally allow the government to recover the cost to taxpayers of supporting cottages at Rondeau and make a fair return on investment but, thanks to you, I’ll be able to make a delightful profit on my parent’s original investment instead of paying to remove my sizable footprint at the end of 2017.
Your money and support will always be there to fight in the future as your friends in the RCA continue their legal challenges to fee increases, pesky regulations and public encroachment on their property.
Linda Hind
Chatham and Rondeau
