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 Post subject: Cancelled Reservation
PostPosted: April 2nd, 2021, 8:32 am 
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I have three solo backcountry weekend trips booked for May to do a little trout fishing and river running at Provincial Parks.

Last night, quite late, I received a phone call from Ontario Parks. The recorded voice told me that my booking was automatically cancelled with a full refund due to the new stay-at-home order starting on April 3rd. It didn't say which booking of the 3 it was. I guess it is my earliest May 1st booking, yet when I went online to Ontario Parks, the reservation still seems to be in place.

So, I guess the Ontario Gov't is planning to keep the stay-at-home order in place for a month or longer. This is looking eerily familiar to last year's scenario and we may not be allowed out until June again this year.

I would be on board for this as I think they should have shut down much earlier. The only issue I have, as a high school teacher, is that right now, I'm not allowed to go camping in the woods next to a lake all by myself, but I am mandated to enter a classroom full of students where every person in that class, teachers and students alike, are potentially exposed. Is it just me or is there a disconnect here?

Anyone else get a similar phone call?

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PostPosted: April 2nd, 2021, 8:53 am 
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Joined: August 17th, 2001, 7:00 pm
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Location: Peterborough, Ontario Canada
I have 3 back country reservations, earliest with an April 30 arrival date and one car camping reservation. I received an email last night, text pasted below. Presumably it's the earliest reservation being cancelled, but I can't be certain until the refund is processed.

<OP message begins>

Hello,

This email is regarding your upcoming reservation with Ontario Parks.

To help stop the spread of COVID-19 and support Ontario’s provincewide emergency brake, the Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks will be temporarily closing campground and backcountry campsites and roofed accommodations, like cabins, yurts, and cottages at all Ontario Parks as of April 3, 2021.

As a result, your reservation has been automatically cancelled, and you will receive a full refund with no penalty. There is no need to contact Ontario Parks to receive your refund. Please allow up to ten business days for your refund to appear on your credit card statement.

We understand that these cancellations will affect your plans. We apologize for the inconvenience and thank you for your continued patience and understanding during these challenging times.

Please continue to visit OntarioParks.com and Ontario Parks social media channels for the most up-to-date information.

Sincerely,

Ontario Parks Reservation Service


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PostPosted: April 2nd, 2021, 9:02 am 
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Joined: September 3rd, 2014, 4:35 pm
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"Doublethink means the power of holding two contradictory beliefs in one's mind simultaneously, and accepting both of them.”


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PostPosted: April 2nd, 2021, 9:21 am 
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Joined: August 17th, 2001, 7:00 pm
Posts: 48
Location: Peterborough, Ontario Canada
"Golf was given the go-ahead to proceed, but clubhouses and indoor facilities need to stay closed."

https://globalnews.ca/news/7732927/covid-ontario-emergency-brake-shutdown-restrictions/


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PostPosted: April 2nd, 2021, 9:23 am 
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Of a more practical and less sarcastic vein https://www.algonquinpark.on.ca/visit/g ... ning_dates

About five clicks down is a date of May 14, from Friends of Algonquin. I've not actually found anything on the gov't sites specifically about backcountry.

Keep positive thought's I keep saying to myself.


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PostPosted: April 2nd, 2021, 9:38 am 
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Joined: April 16th, 2003, 1:50 pm
Posts: 386
Location: Toronto
May 14 is the latest ice-out date of the last lake to ice-out (Opeongo) ever recorded, so now serves as the safest-earliest possible time to re-open only Algonquin while you can still go out on the dangerous spring ice in lesser parks. However, compared to covid, dangerous spring ice is nothing. For example, algonquin was in fact closed throughout the duration of the winter lockdown, so you literally couldn't be one of typically no more than 2-5 parties accessing from anywhere along the entire highway 60 corridor on any given winter weekend, in the middle of winter this year. With perspectives like this, I will expect any covid closure extending past May 14 to outweigh the risk of dangerous spring ice by a considerable margin.


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PostPosted: April 2nd, 2021, 11:08 am 
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Joined: August 28th, 2020, 12:08 pm
Posts: 54
It would be nice if they indicated which booking was cancelled in those emails. Just a generic 'you've been cancelled' letter. I'm guessing my two bookings in April are done. Got kicked out of Pinery in January when they decided from one day to the next that camping was persona non grata. Got a site for the first weekend in May after seeing the lay of the land the other day. Fingers crossed and vaccine queue booked.


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PostPosted: April 2nd, 2021, 1:17 pm 
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Joined: January 15th, 2021, 10:06 am
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I'm about done with Provincial Parks, this is an embarrassment.


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PostPosted: April 2nd, 2021, 1:24 pm 
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Joined: August 27th, 2002, 7:00 pm
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Location: Geraldton, Ontario Can
Remember last spring when they closed Crown Land camping? Pretty sure there will be mass non-compliance if they try that this year.


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PostPosted: April 2nd, 2021, 1:38 pm 
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Joined: January 15th, 2021, 10:06 am
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Yeah, I highly doubt they could enforce it anyways, I gave them the benefit of the doubt last year but I'm done listening to these stooges. I'll be out as soon as the ice is off and I could care less what the Doug Fords of the world think. I'd write my MPP but I might as well save my breath, there all useless.


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PostPosted: April 2nd, 2021, 2:20 pm 
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Joined: February 18th, 2021, 9:21 am
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andrew56 wrote:
Yeah, I highly doubt they could enforce it anyways, I gave them the benefit of the doubt last year but I'm done listening to these stooges. I'll be out as soon as the ice is off and I could care less what the Doug Fords of the world think. I'd write my MPP but I might as well save my breath, there all useless.


I hate to be cynical, but frankly I'm of the exact same feelings as this poster.

They came up with their colour coded system, and set numerical thresholds for it. In the entire district of Parry sound we have had exactly 0 cases for the last 11 days. ZERO. You can't get any better than that. So according to the rules they made, we should be in "green zone" and free to go about our business. And yet now they're locking us down and cancelling park reservations?? And why - because cases are climbing in the GTA? So maybe the GTA should be locked down - but of course they already were! Any district that needed to be locked down already was, so all this province wide lock down does is punish those who didn't need it while not helping those who do need help.

This kind of nonsensical double-think - as demonstrated so well in my opinion by the OP who is expected to accept that it is safe for him to go inside a classroom with 30 kids but not safe for him to go out in a canoe alone - just undermines whatever credibility these public leaders had. I for one have zero trust left in them, and I don't care what they say I'll be launching my canoe just as soon as the ice is gone, hopefully this Tuesday by the looks of the nearest lake.


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PostPosted: April 2nd, 2021, 2:44 pm 
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Solution? Turn tomato of the Park back into Crown Land.


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PostPosted: April 2nd, 2021, 3:55 pm 
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Joined: March 18th, 2019, 7:54 pm
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Location: Brampton
Callee wrote:
They came up with their colour coded system, and set numerical thresholds for it. In the entire district of Parry sound we have had exactly 0 cases for the last 11 days. ZERO. You can't get any better than that. So according to the rules they made, we should be in "green zone" and free to go about our business. And yet now they're locking us down and cancelling park reservations?? And why - because cases are climbing in the GTA? So maybe the GTA should be locked down - but of course they already were! Any district that needed to be locked down already was, so all this province wide lock down does is punish those who didn't need it while not helping those who do need help.


To be fair to them, I think the rationale behind closing parks in your district is so stooges like me don't come up from Covid hotspots and spread it to you. I can tell you without question that there are throngs of people here willing to travel to Parry Sound for a haircut.

But mostly, I'm on board with you.

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PostPosted: April 2nd, 2021, 4:16 pm 
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Joined: February 18th, 2021, 9:21 am
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PacketFiend wrote:
Callee wrote:
They came up with their colour coded system, and set numerical thresholds for it. In the entire district of Parry sound we have had exactly 0 cases for the last 11 days. ZERO. You can't get any better than that. So according to the rules they made, we should be in "green zone" and free to go about our business. And yet now they're locking us down and cancelling park reservations?? And why - because cases are climbing in the GTA? So maybe the GTA should be locked down - but of course they already were! Any district that needed to be locked down already was, so all this province wide lock down does is punish those who didn't need it while not helping those who do need help.


To be fair to them, I think the rationale behind closing parks in your district is so stooges like me don't come up from Covid hotspots and spread it to you. I can tell you without question that there are throngs of people here willing to travel to Parry Sound for a haircut.

But mostly, I'm on board with you.


For sure that was a reasonable concern last year, but now we have real numbers on which to make a judgement: over the entire summer season last year as our population almost tripled with visitors from the city, yet our own local case rate was barely affected. Granted, that's only one season, but still, to me, highly suggestive that us locals don't have much reason to be concerned with transmission from the city. Especially when they are visitors coming up only to head out on their canoe.

It's just such a disappointment to me, the state of things: golfing is allowed but canoeing isn't? As Doug Ford would say, the Premier needs to give his head a shake!


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PostPosted: April 2nd, 2021, 6:16 pm 
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Joined: August 27th, 2002, 7:00 pm
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Location: Geraldton, Ontario Can
In the fall, we had many thousands of moose hunters invade our area, causing quite bit of concern. However, there were zero cases as a result. Thunder Bay currently has one of the highest case loads in Canada, and it's not due to people camping in parks or on Crown Land. It is primarily due to the disregarding of Covid precautions and some other unique conditions.

On the other hand, the new variants might change the game, who knows.


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