Parks legislation open house this evening in North Bay

Adair-Ireland Smith wants to hear what you have to say about the province's review of its parks and protected areas legislation.

Ireland-Smith, the managing director of Ontario Parks, is in North Bay today for an open house which starts at 4 p.m. and goes until 7 p.m., at the Best Western, on Lakeshore Drive,

This is the first time in 50 years the legislation has been reviewed.

And Ireland-Smith says a series of open houses around the province will give the public the opportunity for input.

"We’re looking for opinions around how we can make better the proposals that the government has put out, and we need to hear from communities and groups and stakeholders," Ireland-Smith said at a news conference this afternoon.

"We have a huge variety of stakeholders in the public in Ontario who use and are interested in what happens to protected areas so we need to hear from them. We absolutely need and want to hear from people so that we can use that information in providing recommendations to the minister."