TROUBLE PARADISE: A TORONTO REAL ESTATE DEVELOPER IS BUILDING A MANSION ON MUSKOKAS EXCLUSIVE LAKE JOSEPH-AND THE NEIGHBOURS ARE DOING WHATEVER THEY CAN TO STOP IT: INSIDE A BATTLE FOR THE SOUL OF COTTAGE COUNTRY

Clusters of boathouses blight views of the shoreline as seen from a canoe; noise from high-powered boats scare away fish and wildlife; trees are razed to build cottages that some Canadians would characterize as monster homes. About a decade later, a group of locals came together to form the Muskoka Fair Tax Coalition in response to rising property taxes, which Muskokans blamed on the influx of rich celebrities and athletes. In 2011, a group of cottagers founded the non-profit Safe Quiet Lakes to educate locals on proper boating etiquette, though it seems to have had little success: according to their 2021 survey, the perceived amount of boat traffic, boat noise and boat wake damage is much worse than it was five years ago. [...]soaring property values and property taxes have priced many long-time residents out of the area.