The Happy Camper: Ontario Adding and Upgrading Over 1,000 Campsites
Ontario has announced that they are investing nearly $60 million towards adding 300 new campsites and upgrading over 800 existing sites, with the majority of them having electrical service. Some campers are praising the Ontario government for enhancing comfort and improving accessibility for a wider range of visitors, but some more traditional campers are claiming Ontario is destroying the true essence of camping.
The main reasoning behind Ontario Parks’ largest addition of campsites in 50 years: there’s just too many new campers wanting to pitch a tent or plug in their RV. In 2025, 12.5 million people visited Ontario parks!
If you’ve tried to book a campsite at one of the more popular provincial parks lately, you’ll agree wholeheartedly how insane it has become to find an unoccupied site. COVID-19 provoked thousands of more people to give camping a try. Lately, however, it’s been the issues over the US and Canada border that’s convincing even more Canadians to stay local and camp. To add to all that, there’s even been an influx of Americans who have crossed over to Ontario to camp due to their belief that their new leader is mismanaging the US parks’ service.
Ontario Parks’ focus is only to add to the busier parks in the province; the ones closer to the larger urban areas. The new 300 campsites will be added at Driftwood, MacGregor Point, Bon Echo and Killarney Provincial Parks, with more parks to follow. The 800 electrical upgrades will be done at Sandbanks, Arrowhead and Bon Echo (Sandbanks alone received approximately 750,000 visitors this year).
So, what’s the big deal about adding more room in the inn rather than having baby Jesus born in a stable?
The traditional campers are claiming that more sites mean more squeeze in the campground, which adds to closer noisy neighbours with their yappy dog and humming generators. They’re also worried about capacity issues—that being stinkier outhouses and dried up water faucets. They also assert that unethical campers scamming the reservation system is still a big problem. Campers book sites for a full week to hold it for the weekend, or they sell it off illegally online to make a profit. Add in the price of it all. Electrical sites are more expensive, which adds to the coffers of the government’s park system. Maybe it’s a money grab?
Overall, however, I think the traditionalists are more concerned about losing the “true” camping experience. The days of yesteryear will be gone, when you travel on a whim and you soak in the solitude of nature wherever you decide to pitch your tent that night. Remember the times when you stood in line at the gatehouse to await an open spot; even drove around and chose one you’d prefer before booking. Now, you sit at your computer months before, trying to grab anything possible.
Another bee in the bonnet of some campers: what about the handful of northern park campgrounds that closed a few years back? Why not open them back up instead? That would help local businesses in the north. What’s wrong with the north except for the longer drive and a few more mosquitoes buzzing around your head?
I’m not sure where I sit on this issue. I’m getting to the age where a cozy trailer might be easier to roll out of in the morning rather than a mini nylon tent. Sure, I don’t need a toilet or shower inside my caravan, but it sure would be nice at times to have a plug-in for my phone before going to bed.
Each to their own, I guess. I’m just glad there are a lot more people experiencing nature, so they’ll have the desire to protect it when needed.
The biggest thing to me, however, is that Ontario Parks isn’t sharing any news about spending more money on the protection of wilderness areas—just about adding more electric sites to add more comfort and to ease our discomfort in wild places…?
Maybe we should take note on what Canadian singer/songwriter Joni Mitchell once warned us about years ago:
“Don’t it always seem to go that you don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone. They paved paradise and put up a parking lot.”
