Frustration grows in Niagara Falls, Ont., with no clear progress on fate of Marineland and belugas
CBC
Residents in Niagara Falls, Ont., continue to wait for news on the future of Marineland’s property and dozens of animals, including up to 30 belugas and four dolphins — nearly two months after the federal government turned down the theme park's request to export the mammals.
The shuttered park and zoo once attracted millions of visitors and employed hundreds of seasonal workers.
Its real estate is vast, stretching about 324 hectares on the doorstep of Canada’s most popular tourist destination — Niagara Falls.
“Every time I drive by, it makes me really sad,” said local Realtor Shelby Tomlinson. “I see it sitting empty and I feel like we could use that space for something really good.”
At Falls Manor Restaurant, not far from Marineland, everyone CBC News spoke to had a personal connection to the property and an opinion on what should happen to it.
Vince Forte worked at the theme park for two summers in his teens, at the deer park and in guest services.
He said he would like the property to “give the residents or the kids of Niagara Falls jobs like they did for us.”
“Now, there’s really not much for them."
Another restaurant patron, Barry Baumour, said deciding Marineland's fate is “very urgent.”
He wants the property to bring jobs to the community again, and that may include turning it into “a massive entertainment centre that would draw not only the kids, but also for adult entertainment.”
Founded in 1961, Marineland didn't open this past season and has been closed to the public since the end of summer 2024. The park is attempting to sell its assets, including its rides, but has faced financial and other challenges.
After the passing of the amusement park's owners, John Holer in 2018 and his wife and successor Marie Holer in 2024, the estate was placed in a trust.
Niagara Falls Mayor Jim Diodati said there’s been interest from land developers to build homes on the Marineland site, but that would be a mistake.
The property could fit three theme parks the size of Disney's Magic Kingdom in Florida and is prime tourism land so close to the falls.
Gusty winds, rapid fall in temperature prompt special weather statement for Waterloo region and area
The mid-week warmup in Waterloo region, Guelph and area will abruptly come to an end on Friday, Environment and Climate Change Canada warns.
Water in two more schools in the N.W.T. show lead levels above Health Canada's guidelines for drinking water, according to the territorial government.
Ontario's ethics watchdog says it will investigate whether the province's labour minister contravened any laws in his handling of a controversial training fund.
Mitchell Rose, the 32-year-old man charged with three counts of attempted murder in St. John’s, will spend the next month on the forensic unit of a psychiatric hospital.
Nearly eight years after Halifax sold the historic Khyber building in the hopes it could be revived, the municipality says the site has become a “threat to safety” — and is taking it back.
The New Brunswick government has a strategy for reducing chronic homelessness in the province by 40 per cent over the next three years, Housing Minister David Hickey said Thursday.
Quebec Health Minister Christian Dubé is stepping down.
A Winnipeg mother whose kids attend Winnipeg School Division schools says officials waited too long to let parents know classes would be cancelled on Thursday amid a winter blizzard that created dangerous road conditions across the city.
After one day of calm, Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) says a second Alberta clipper storm will begin to hit western Saskatchewan early Friday morning.
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith's government is increasing how much it costs to apply for a citizen-initiated referendum by 5,000 per cent, saying it's about making sure applicants are serious.
A special unit established to solve cold cases of missing and murdered Indigenous people has solved the murder of a B.C. man in Washington State nearly a decade ago.
A judge ruled Thursday to remove an injunction in place since the summer against Alberta's law prohibiting doctors from providing gender-affirming care to youth.
A pedestrian is dead and another is in life-threatening condition after two vehicles collided in Richmond Hill on Thursday, striking three people, police say.