The Art (Not Science) of Using Science to Sell Georgian Bay
Apparently Midland/North Simcoe is the gateway to Georgian Bay and encapsulates all of the characteristic qualities and features of the entirety of Georgian Bay. Hear it for yourself. Then we’ll unpack why.
“We believe, as we did back in September 2021 that Midland North Simcoe area is a genuine portal to deep time and a microcosm of the entire Georgian Bay Geopark.” – Tony Pigott, Executive Director, Georgian Bay Geopark
Let’s start with Midland/North Simcoe as a“genuine portal”. Tony Pigott actually has that part right.
“North Simcoe can be the gateway to the UNESCO Geopark and the place that people go to first, being adjacent as you are to four million people.” – September 2021
On to microcosm. Did he get that part right?
Microcosm (mīkrōˌkäzəm)
A community, place, or situation regarded as encapsulating in miniature the characteristic qualities or features of something much larger.
Do Midland and North Simcoe encapsulate all of the characteristic qualities and features of the entirety of Georgian Bay? Let’s start with the proportions.
The body of water that is Georgian Bay is approximately 15,000 square kilometers. The land surrounding Georgian Bay that is being claimed as the geopark boundary is approximately 33,000 square kilometers. That’s a total of about 48,000 square kilometers.
North Simcoe is composed of 4 municipalities, Midland (61 km2), Penetanguishene (25 km2), Tiny Township (335 km2) and Tay Township (138 km2). That’s a total of 559 km2, 1.16% of the area being claimed by the geopark.
At 1.16% of all of the land, he got the micro part right.
But there is no way Midland/North Simcoe is a microcosm for all of Georgian Bay. Or is it? Because apparently Georgian Bay is one region. Here is what the geopark executive director told the Rotary Club in Penetanguishene in September 2024.
“The area of the geopark is 48,000 square kilometres,” Pigott said. “That is larger than Vancouver Island, and it would be bigger than any UNESCO Geopark in the world. Some people have been known to say that we’re crazy to try this, but the reality is Georgian Bay is one region; it shares water and so much history and culture that the opportunity is to create a framework for the entire region.”
He’s omitting that the geopark team has divided Georgian Bay and its surrounding lands into eight “deep time zones” because these eight parts of the “one region” are all so geologically different. Confusing.
Rocks aside, <insert any Georgian Bay community here> – we’ll run with Point au Baril. Midland North Simcoe is a microcosm of <Point au Baril>, because Georgian Bay is one region and <Point au Baril> shares the same history and culture as Midland North Simcoe.
Sadly, the Georgian Bay Geopark is not a Georgian Bay initiative. It is a North Simcoe initiative.
Hear it for yourself courtesy of Mayor Bill Gordon.
And why? Money. Simcoe County is doing an end run on Georgian Bay to claim all of it for economic benefit.
To quote Midland CAO in 2021, “Global tourism expands in and around Geoparks that sees current businesses expand and flourish and new businesses started.”
To quote Tony Pigott’s one-time partner, Cameron Brohman “Where UNESCO is not a bank itself, the designation connects organizations with private-sector sources of funding.”
Not to mention public-sector sources of funding. The geopark has received $175,000 in funding from the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario to develop and implement interpretive tourism programming for the Georgian Bay Geopark. As well as funding from Regional Tourism Organizations 7 and 13.
Tony Pigott sums it up really well.
Dividends.
Also known as profiting off of Georgian Bay.
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