To protect Ontario’s snowmobile network and the communities that rely on it, the government of Ontario says it is providing the Ontario Federation of Snowmobile Clubs (OFSC) with an additional $3.9 million this season, bringing total support to $4.9 million in 2025–26.
The province says this targeted funding will enable the full reopening of 4,500 kilometres of trails while the government works with the OFSC on a long-term trail strategy.
“We heard the concerns from riders and the OFSC, and we took action,” said Ric Bresee, Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Transportation. “This investment will keep Ontario’s snowmobile trail system safe, reliable, and ready for the season, giving riders and communities the certainty they need to plan with confidence.”
According to the Ontario government, snowmobiling continues to be one of the province’s most popular winter activities. With over 30,000 kilometres of trails to travel, Ontario has a world-class snowmobile network that attracts visitors from around the world. Reopening these trails is essential to supporting local businesses, protecting tourism revenue, and ensuring riders can safely access Ontario’s trail system.
“Snowmobiling is a major part of winter life in Parry Sound–Muskoka, and it supports countless local jobs, from fuel stops and restaurants to resorts, lodges, and small businesses across our communities,” said Graydon Smith, MPP for Parry Sound–Muskoka. “This additional funding will help reopen 4,500 kilometres of trails, give riders more certainty as the season gets underway, and support the volunteers and local clubs who do the hard work to keep Ontario’s trail network safe and ready to ride.”
The province says Ontario’s snowmobile network contributes up to $6 billion of economic activity annually. This funding is one more way the government is protecting Ontario by strengthening tourism, creating jobs, and supporting local economies across the province.
QUICK FACTS
- Since 2020–21, the Ministry of Transportation has provided $4.5 million in funding to the OFSC through an existing Transfer Payment Agreement.
- The OFSC manages the province’s snowmobile trail permit system and coordinates trail operations across hundreds of local volunteer clubs that maintain Ontario’s network.
From the office of Parry Sound–Muskoka MPP Graydon Smith
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Snowmobiling grew and was a lot of fun until the government sort of “took it over”. At this point the cost went up substantially and this combined with the effects of a warming climate with more extreme weather events, mostly to the detriment of snowmobiling has pushed snowmobiling into a decline over the last 20 years.
The cost of sleds plus permits and insurance has skyrocketed while the usable days that are good for the sport has dropped by about 30 % over this period. Many resorts and facilities that grew with snowmobiling initially have dropped from the picture. The trail network is badly “incomplete” with road running necessary on many trails. The road maintenance departments do a better job of keeping roads clear now, partly because of the increased rural population needing to use their cars more often and partly just because the roads departments can now access bigger and better equipment than ever before and probably partly due to legal issues regarding clearance standards and stuff like that.
The overall effect is that snowmobiling has bee a dying sport here for each of the last decade of years. We don’t have the interconnections, the weather , the good lake ice and all the costs are up substantially. Probably demographics have not helped. Many of the newer GTA residents come from warmer climates and they do not revel in cold and snow in the bush. The media makes Disney, Cruises and warm beaches synonymous with the word “holiday” so many people have taken to fleeing south, away from winter and snow.
Net effect has been that snowmobiling, at least for our resort, has been falling year by year, despite attempts with advertising to counter this trend, steadily over the last 20 years.
I wonder if it will ever come back to what it was like in the earlier times. It will take more than a few government dollars thrown at the trail network to accomplish a full turn around. One sad fact is that snowmobilers have to be mobile and trailer to their chosen area. On the flip side of this, if the weather here is not good for the sport, they can and will cancel and go elsewhere for their sport. It is a sport that is not only at the mercy of the climate, it is also sadly a sport that in itself is “bad” for the climate. Over the long term these two facts do not bode well for snowmobiling much south of North Bay.