Ontario Government Announces Recovery Support Funding for Niagara Parks

Ontario Government Announces Recovery Support Funding for Niagara Parks

Niagara Parks Commission is getting $12.8 million in one-time stabilization funding from the Ontario government to help it survive COVID-19.

In what one participant labelled a “historic” announcement Friday, Lisa MacLeod, minister of heritage, sport, tourism and culture industries, said the funding will help the commission continue to operate “so when it is safe to do, they will be able to welcome visitors from around the world back into this city and into our parks commission.”

“We recognize that it’s important to ensure stability for the Niagara Parks Commission,” she said, in making the announcement at Niagara Parks Floral Showcase.

“I think it’s important to recognize that although it is an agency of the Crown and through this ministry of heritage, sport, tourism and culture industries, we’ve never had to ever provide stabilization funding or operating funding to the Niagara Parks Commission. That’s about to change.”

The parks commission is a self-financed agency of the ministry.

Operating costs are funded through admission fees at its natural attractions, historic sites, restaurants, golf courses, shops and parking facilities along 56 kilometres of the Niagara Parkway.

“We’re not encouraging people across Ontario, at the moment, to travel, but what we are trying to do is ensure that that critical hospitality infrastructure that is required when it is safe to do so remains viable,” said MacLeod.

“Today’s announcement is really about the stabilization of the Niagara Parks Commission, so that ... the lights are still on, and the staff are still here, and the grounds are still kept.”

Niagara Falls Mayor Jim Diodati, a Niagara Parks commissioner, called the announcement a “hand up, more than a handout.”

“Today is not about a want, it’s about a need,” he said.

“Yes, resilience is part of our DNA — we’re used to challenges. But this one is not through anything that we’ve done. We’re the victim of circumstance and extraordinary times call for extraordinary measures.”

Diodati said 40,000 people across the region count on tourism “to put food on the table.”

“We need to make sure that we brush the teeth that we want to keep.”

David Adames, chief executive officer of Niagara Parks, called the announcement “historic” but necessary to meet the “unprecedented challenge.”

“Your announcement today — this very important investment — will ensure that Niagara Parks has the ability to properly invest in the maintenance and care of our iconic natural wonders and provide an essential bridge to the recovery phase of tourism in Ontario,” he said.

MacLeod said her ministry is responsible for 18 agencies and attractions.

“We estimate within the ministry that some of the most well-known and iconic institutions, not only in Canada but around the world that we represent have been impacted and has probably lost over $120 million in revenues this year,” she said.

  • “The challenge that we have as an operational enterprise is that our revenues were impacted, so with that closure right around March break, what we’ll end up seeing this year is about 25 to 30 per cent of our normal revenue.”

Niagara West MPP Sam Oosterhoff said Niagara Parks has been an “anchor and historic” tourism partner in the region for more than 100 years, preserving and promoting the natural and cultural heritage of Niagara Falls and the surrounding area, including the Niagara River corridor.

“The Niagara Parks Commission, along with our key tourism destinations in Niagara, have drawn tens of millions of visitors to Niagara, and although this year has been very different than years past, we look forward to the day when it again becomes safe to travel and we can once again welcome many local and international guests to one of the greatest natural wonders of the world.”

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