Basit: As Chief Conservation Executive for Ontario he has a land problem Premier is making public land available to developers

By Pepper Parr

July 22nd, 2025

BURLINGTON, ON

The Ontario government has proposed removing 645 acres of the beaches and an island in Ontario’s most-visited Provincial Park and turning them over to development. This represents almost one third of Wasaga Beach Provincial Park. The proposal also makes it easier and faster for the government to remove lands or entire parks across the province. This will be done by changing the Provincial Parks and Conservation Reserves Act which currently requires a study, report, and agreement of the members of the Ontario Legislature before lands totalling more than 1% of a park area can be removed or sold. The proposal aims to remove this portion of the Act.

“Provincial Parks belong to the people of Ontario and are meant to be protected forever. It is appalling that the current government is trying to give away big parts of our most popular park and make it easy to give more park land away in the future” said Tim Gray, Executive Director of Environmental Defence. “These beachfront lands on Georgian Bay are worth millions of dollars and owned by the people of Ontario. They should never be a gift to well-connected developers”.

Hassaan Basit at his last Burlington Council meeting.

Our current Chief Administrative Officer, Hassaan Basit moving along to the provincial government to handle conservation matters.

When we checked to make sure we had the title correctly, we were surprised to learn that Basit is not only the Chief Conservation Executive but he is also a Deputy Minister and that the appointment is for a three-year period,

Pursuant to the prerogative of His Majesty The King in Right of Ontario to appoint persons to serve His Majesty’s Government of Ontario in the discharge of its executive obligations and responsibilities.   Hassaan Basit be appointed Deputy Minister and Chief Conservation Executive, Cabinet Office, effective August 4, 2025, to serve at the pleasure of the Lieutenant Governor in Council for a period not exceeding three years from the effective date of this appointment.

The job comes with some interesting perks.   A performance bonus that can reach as high as 26% for DM1 levels and a car with a driver.  No, not every deputy minister is guaranteed a driver. While some deputy ministers are provided with vehicles and drivers as part of their role, it is not a universal perk for all deputy ministers.

Wasaga Beach Provincial Park