Keeping You Informed In 2017, we launched the FOCA blog, “FOCA-LL Point (Lessons Learned),” with discussion topics about youth engagement and finding volunteers for lake associations. Please add your voice! And tell us what other topics you’d like to talk about, next: https://foca.on.ca/blog/. The annual FOCA Lake Stewards Newsletter was published in July, including Ontario fish facts, tips for cottage building planning, youth engagement stories and much more. Copies were mailed to Lake Stewards and our Member Association Executives. Enjoy the digital edition, here: https://foca.on.ca/2017-foca-lake-stewards-newsletter/. Advocacy Efforts & Progress “PARTICIPATE, DRIVE CHANGE” 2017 saw many developments in policy and regulations affecting waterfront property owners. Here are some highlights: Electricity Rates FOCA wrote the Premier in February and again in March, protesting the move to end the seasonal class with projected cost increases of over 140% for low use seasonal customers! In July, FOCA met with Glenn Thibeault, the Minister of Energy, to reiterate our concerns and seek clarification on future rate impacts. Follow developments: https://foca.on.ca/electricity-pricing/. Emergency Support In the aftermath of Spring flooding in Ontario cottage country, FOCA wrote the Ontario Premier to ask for emergency support for seasonal residents, in line with Quebec coverage being offered. Our efforts were rebuffed, with a response in October from the Minister of Municipal Affairs. Follow developments: https://foca.on.ca/weather-extremes-and-emergency-preparedness/. Emergency Response On behalf of our members, who cottage in remote locations, FOCA contacted Ministers and the Ontario Fire Marshal & Chief of Emergency Management in 2014 about access to government-led emergency services in northern and rural Ontario, in light of a fatal 2013 boat accident and related 911 response near Sudbury. In 2015, FOCA was informed, “the government has declined to hold an inquiry into the event… and our researchers have found there are no generic expected response times for cottagers.” However, in 2017, a Coroner’s inquest was finally called into the event. Follow developments: https://foca.on.ca/emergency-response-in-remote-areas/. Dock Permit Resolution Over the past two years, FOCA has challenged the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry to clarify dock permit rules which were thrown into limbo during the summer of 2015, and remained mired in red tape through 2016. After sustained effort, FOCA saw the Ministry post new regulations in June 2017 that reinstituted the common sense elements of a “free use” approach to modest docks and single-storey boathouses on public lands without the need for permits. For full details, visit: https://foca.on.ca/dock-permits/. Capital Gains In April, FOCA wrote the provincial and federal Finance Ministers in opposition to proposals to increase capital gains taxation on property disposition as a solution to curb property speculation. Read our letter: www.foca.on.ca/focas-property-tax- position-overview/. Ministerial Mention In January 2017, The Honourable Catherine McKenna, the federal Minister of Environment and Climate Change, wrote a message to FOCA members, noting: “Organizations such as yours are vital actors…[to] ensure Canada’s waterways and ecosystems are healthy and well-protected” Read the full letter: https://foca.on.ca/ climate-change-and-waterfront-ontario/.