Mayor announces Notice of Motion on draft P&R Master Plan
Photo courtesy of Town Cobourg.
By Cecilia Nasmith
Having previously issued a statement expressing his displeasure with certain aspects of the Town of Cobourg's draft Parks and Recreation Master Plan, Mayor Lucas Cleveland will make his opposition official at the June 24 council meeting with a Notice of Motion he released publicly this week.
In a brief statement attached to the motion, Cleveland calls the draft “a document that should never have reached the public in the form it has,” adding that the Notice of Motion “represents exactly what the vast majority of the public is demanding.”
The motion that will be put before council says the following.
WHEREAS no plan nor any draft plan paid for by the taxpayers of Cobourg should encourage, endorse or make it easier to commit acts of criminality under Federal or provincial law in our public parks or any public space in this town; and
WHEREAS the draft Parks and Recreation Master Plan contains language affirming “housing as a fundamental human right,” recommends syringe-disposal bins at Victoria Park, Victoria Beach and the Ecology Garden, and prescribes harm-reduction signage frameworks that normalize illegal drug use in municipal parks – none of which reflects council's policy direction or this municipality's legislative responsibilities; and
WHEREAS the Province of Ontario enacted Bill 6 – the Safer Municipalities Act, 2025 – making encampments and the consumption of illegal substances in public spaces offences subject to fines of up to $10,000 or imprisonment of up to six months, or both; and
WHEREAS the Town of Cobourg has reinforced that legislative direction through Nuisance By-law 048-2016, as amended by By-law 017-2024, Parks By-law 022-2016, as amended by By-law 070-2023, and Bylaw 018-2024 – collectively affirming Cobourg's parks exist for the recreation, health and quality of life of all residents, not as sites of encampment or illegal activity;
NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that council direct staff to ensure the revised draft Parks and Recreation Master Plan, prior to presentation for adoption, removes in its entirety any language that:
a) Affirms housing or shelter as a human right in the context of parks planning;
b) Recommends harm-reduction infrastructure including syringe-disposal bins or non-stigmatizing drug-use signage in municipal parks;
Frames homelessness or encampment use of public parks sympathetically or as a parks-planning consideration;
Contradicts or is inconsistent with the Safer Municipalities Act 2025, the Restricting Public Consumption of Illegal Substances Act 2025, the Trespass to Property Act as amended, or any Town of Cobourg by-law governing public parks; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that staff confirm in writing to council, prior to adoption, that all language identified above has been removed and that the revised document fully reflects the town's legislative obligations, council's policy direction and the values of the residents of Cobourg.
