2026 Ontario season

[Yukon]

The fact is, permit prices cant support the exponential rate that the trail system has grown over several years.

 

When clubs continue to add a trail here and a trail there, without fully understanding the impacts, reductions must occur. Its not sustainable with the price point. That's business. A bag of potatoes  chips has less volume now, but people still buy them. Why, because of the enjoyment.

 

Also what the ofsc is doing is a proactive approach before it becomes reactive. Forecasts show, decline in revenue if we stay status quo remains the same. 

 

I am disappointed that its come to this, but I fully understand why it needs to be done.

 

Our club is looking at removing trail redundancies, dead end Trails, and anything that is on private land where its set for rural development. Snipping 10 kms, been looking at those trails for a very long time.

 

Just have a look at some Districts that have overlap trails going in circles in the same field or one concession over from each other. 

 

I dont believe this is all doom and gloom, as the districts that see the most traffic will stay relatively unscathed. Those who don't, need to take a good hard look, and make some very tough decisions.

 

I'm a trail builder, volunteer and a seasoned club board member that has held multiple rolls within a few clubs. I am also a die hard sledder, no I dont want to see trail reductions, but somethings gotta give.

 

There have been alot of great ideas here on this forum, don't think for a second the OFSC hasn't looked at those ideas, options.

 

We are all sledders!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[T bird]

4 hours ago, stoney said:

Always like the pit area since they have trees and the others do not. 
for a while there I thought they were only running 1/8 mile due to that speed bump, I assume that is fixed.

early 90’s is when I started to go there, that’s when John force and the nhra came to that strip for the annual nationals. 
I’d say they were the first to cater to the rice racers…that your traditional drag racer really didn’t relate to very well…lol

It’s my go to as it’s about 30mins for me to get there. We always camped there as teenagers for that event, sure did have a lot of there. If I’m not mistaken, I believe the track has been redone 

[signfan]

9 hours ago, PISTON LAKE CRUISER said:

I agree with what you are saying but I believe the MTO limits the permit price increase to 7% a year and that isn't enough.

And there lies a major issue.  Ofsc needs to push back and push their own decisions based on direction from the clubs and convention.  If MTO says no it’s a simple discussion.  If you won’t let us raise the funds to operate then come to the table with the difference.  If not get out of the road.  We need less gov’t restrictions, inefficiency and control.  Not more.

[Mach Z]

On 8/16/2025 at 10:20 AM, PISTON LAKE CRUISER said:

I agree with what you are saying but I believe the MTO limits the permit price increase to 7% a year and that isn't enough.

Ridiculous. 

On 8/16/2025 at 7:34 PM, signfan said:

And there lies a major issue.  Ofsc needs to push back and push their own decisions based on direction from the clubs and convention.  If MTO says no it’s a simple discussion.  If you won’t let us raise the funds to operate then come to the table with the difference.  If not get out of the road.  We need less gov’t restrictions, inefficiency and control.  Not more.

Yup.

[Spiderman]

Can I ask a question here.

Can anyone explain why the MTO has to have any hand in the OFSC issuing a permit for trail riding?

There is no requirement for a sled having to have a pass for anything other accessing a private trail system - so what is the reason here?

 

 

 

[scottyr]

41 minutes ago, Spiderman said:

Can I ask a question here.

Can anyone explain why the MTO has to have any hand in the OFSC issuing a permit for trail riding?

There is no requirement for a sled having to have a pass for anything other accessing a private trail system - so what is the reason here?

 

 

 

 

I assume it is because the trails cross roads or in some instances use roads that fall under MTO supervision?

[Spiderman]

11 minutes ago, scottyr said:

 

I assume it is because the trails cross roads or in some instances use roads that fall under MTO supervision?

 

Does the MTO issues the ATV permits too then?

 

[scottyr]

6 minutes ago, Spiderman said:

 

Does the MTO issues the ATV permits too then?

 

 

For whatever reason, ATVs fall under Municipal Regs.  

[Spiderman]

1 minute ago, scottyr said:

 

For whatever reason, ATVs fall under Municipal Regs.  

 

hmm, do they have something similar to the MSVA?

Maybe that's the difference?

[scottyr]

1 minute ago, Spiderman said:

 

hmm, do they have something similar to the MSVA?

Maybe that's the difference?

ATVs can only use roads when the Municipality passes a by law allowing it.     You cannot legally ride an ATV on the road everywhere in Ontario.   

 

Snowmobiles fall under MSVA which is a provincially mandated Act.    

[volunteer2]

The MTO has the final say on the cost of the permit because it is an MTO permit    Now anyone can please correct me because I may not be 100 percent up to date because this all happened quite a while ago as you can see in the picture    Bill 101 in approximatly 2001 was passed by the Ontario legislature  and that makes the trail permit mandatory for OFSC trails by law.  Now as to the increase amounts it used to be decided at AGM in September by the membership.  Then it went to the ministry to be approved or rejected   It was a tight time to get the answer since permit sales were coming up.  We as a membership along with the MTO put in a formula for permit increases   If the sales were a certain amount the price would increase by a certain amount   This I have forgotten the amounts    So the increase is already determined by the previous years sales and the MTO approves everything early and we can get to preparing to get permit sales going    As I said at first it is an MTO permit   We the OFSC are a permit selling outlet    If the permits would go to service ontario they too would be a selling outlet   Picture too follow 

[volunteer2]

As you can see the 2000 and 2001 permits have no MTO designation. The 2002 permit and from then on there is 

[Spiderman]

3 minutes ago, volunteer2 said:

The MTO has the final say on the cost of the permit because it is an MTO permit    Now anyone can please correct me because I may not be 100 percent up to date because this all happened quite a while ago as you can see in the picture    Bill 101 in approximatly 2001 was passed by the Ontario legislature  and that makes the trail permit mandatory for OFSC trails by law.  Now as to the increase amounts it used to be decided at AGM in September by the membership.  Then it went to the ministry to be approved or rejected   It was a tight time to get the answer since permit sales were coming up.  We as a membership along with the MTO put in a formula for permit increases   If the sales were a certain amount the price would increase by a certain amount   This I have forgotten the amounts    So the increase is already determined by the previous years sales and the MTO approves everything early and we can get to preparing to get permit sales going    As I said at first it is an MTO permit   We the OFSC are a permit selling outlet    If the permits would go to service ontario they too would be a selling outlet   Picture too follow 

But my question was WHY is it an MTO issued permit. 

 

[Mach Z]

it should be attached to the val tag if its an MTO permit like a car.

 

 

[PISTON LAKE CRUISER]

Because the OFSC in all their wisdom decided it would be more beneficial for them to be in cahoots with the provincial government.

[volunteer2]

As they say we got in bed with the government.  With passing bill 101 it made all clubs join the OFCS as well. We had 1 provincial snowmobile club now and that way any government negotiations were easier.  But with the permit being a mandatory it wasn't just trespassing that you were getting fined for now it was a bigger fine.  All was good when we had enforcement 

[Strong Farmer]

1 hour ago, mach Z said:

it should be attached to the val tag if its an MTO permit like a car.

 

 

Cars are free now 😂 

[Mach Z]

26 minutes ago, Strong Farmer said:

Cars are free now 😂 

"Free".......................uh huh. Kind of like a buck a beer!

[signfan]

Bill 101 gave police the ability to enforce permits on crown land.  There is a limited exception list (hunting, fishing) but this was the trade off.  Have gov’t controlled permit and the police can enforce its use on public land.  The government then relinquishes all of its responsibility to maintain the trail system and to respresent the sport in the province of Ontario to the OFSC.  It was all done in good faith.  Issue becomes when OFSC now is bound to meet government requirements.  For instance to sell permits online the website had to and continues to have to go through massive gov’t security requirements that do come at a cost.  Where I take exception is when suggestions are made and the response from OFSC to argue against an idea is we don’t have MTO permission to do that.  It’s that slippery slope.  The agreement with bill 101 was never to give the gov’t complete control and having an agreement with the gov’t was never meant to be a tool for head office to push back on grassroots ideas.  But in some ways this is the way it comes across.  I think head office very much has the ability to go say we need a larger increase.  Would the gov’t like to move in a timely manner to make it occur?  Maybe not.  Could they?  Absolutely yes.  Sounds like 7% was a max in a pre-determined agreement.  My guess is that could change if convention said it had to.  Just my 10 cents though.

 

On the trail growth comments there probably is some validity to those comments.  There has been trail added near Chapleau, near Griffith and in various other areas in recent years.  That said cutting a few km of trail back doesn’t necessarily equate to major savings.  If that new trail was access road that needed no maintenance what did it cost?  The added grooming budget.  If you want to actually cut major costs then it’s miles of prime trail.  Something that will equate to 10, 20 percent of the hours the groomer runs, avoid a bridge replacement and avoid hours of maintenance work.  Those cuts are the ones that hurt.

[Strong Farmer]

4 minutes ago, signfan said:

Bill 101 gave police the ability to enforce permits on crown land.  There is a limited exception list (hunting, fishing) but this was the trade off.  Have gov’t controlled permit and the police can enforce its use on public land.  The government then relinquishes all of its responsibility to maintain the trail system and to respresent the sport in the province of Ontario to the OFSC.  It was all done in good faith.  Issue becomes when OFSC now is bound to meet government requirements.  For instance to sell permits online the website had to and continues to have to go through massive gov’t security requirements that do come at a cost.  Where I take exception is when suggestions are made and the response from OFSC to argue against an idea is we don’t have MTO permission to do that.  It’s that slippery slope.  The agreement with bill 101 was never to give the gov’t complete control and having an agreement with the gov’t was never meant to be a tool for head office to push back on grassroots ideas.  But in some ways this is the way it comes across.  I think head office very much has the ability to go say we need a larger increase.  Would the gov’t like to move in a timely manner to make it occur?  Maybe not.  Could they?  Absolutely yes.  Sounds like 7% was a max in a pre-determined agreement.  My guess is that could change if convention said it had to.  Just my 10 cents though.

 

On the trail growth comments there probably is some validity to those comments.  There has been trail added near Chapleau, near Griffith and in various other areas in recent years.  That said cutting a few km of trail back doesn’t necessarily equate to major savings.  If that new trail was access road that needed no maintenance what did it cost?  The added grooming budget.  If you want to actually cut major costs then it’s miles of prime trail.  Something that will equate to 10, 20 percent of the hours the groomer runs, avoid a bridge replacement and avoid hours of maintenance work.  Those cuts are the ones that hurt.

Last winter southern Ontario especially district 9, had massive winds. I was out there one day when wind picked up and blew snow up.  Could barely get thru when that happens. I seen a picture of a trail near Medford drift was higher then groomer. It was essentially burried, while out grooming trails.   They did an automatic trail closure. Lots of clubs were grooming often and busting these big drifts back open. I think allot of fuel and extra hours were put in, because of weather. It's been 11 years since I seen a winter like last year. 

[Spiderman]

Just trying to understand why we need the MTO dictating the price of a permit.

 

If you need them involved for enforcement, so be it, just don’t quite understand how they have any say whatsoever in dictating what the OFSC and their member clubs want to charge to access the system.

 

 

[Dave K]

6 hours ago, Strong Farmer said:

Last winter southern Ontario especially district 9, had massive winds. I was out there one day when wind picked up and blew snow up.  Could barely get thru when that happens. I seen a picture of a trail near Medford drift was higher then groomer. It was essentially burried, while out grooming trails.   They did an automatic trail closure. Lots of clubs were grooming often and busting these big drifts back open. I think allot of fuel and extra hours were put in, because of weather. It's been 11 years since I seen a winter like last year. 

I've been a Firefighter for 15 years.  Last year was the first time I ever took the sled to a fire call.  Happened twice.  First time I got lost twice coming home due to visibility.  In the section of trail that I stake, so it wasn't like I didn't know where the trail was.  Wind was bad enough, and only about 6 in of stake above the snow 

[Strong Farmer]

7 hours ago, Spiderman said:

Just trying to understand why we need the MTO dictating the price of a permit.

 

If you need them involved for enforcement, so be it, just don’t quite understand how they have any say whatsoever in dictating what the OFSC and their member clubs want to charge to access the system.

 

 

Maybe permits will increase this year. Anyone that waited last year to buy one, won't wait again to do it. So hopefully we get strong permit sales this fall. 

[mpsrent]

21 hours ago, Spiderman said:

But my question was WHY is it an MTO issued permit. 

 

A Ministry of Transportation trail permit is enforceable, an OFSC issued permit isn't. Also, a government issued permit brings with it a lower duty of care. An OFSC permit would simply be viewed as a fee for service subjecting the clubs and volunteers to the same duty of care your would expect of any for-profit business. 

Short answer - legal reasons which have been debated for 25 years. 

[Steve F6]

Hi folks thought i'd put this here in case anyone would like come out for the day. We'll have smoked brisket to eat apparently. 2026 will mark 60yrs as a club.