French complain, park name's changed

OTTAWA, March 11 (UPI) -- A French-Canadian water park developer has been forced to change the name of a new site in Eastern Ontario because of complaints it sounded too English.

Developer Guy Drouin of Quebec City told the Ottawa Citizen newspaper the name "Sunnyland Amusement Resort" outside Ottawa created an uproar among local French-speakers, so he decided to rename it Calypso Park.

"It's a name that works in three languages: English, French and Spanish," Drouin said. "We didn't know about francophone affairs in Eastern Ontario, and we never expected such a strong reaction."

The park is scheduled to open in June 2009 near the town of Nation, whose mayor, Denis Pommainville, was among the most vocal critics of the Sunnyland name.

"For a company from Quebec City to move into Ontario and not be bilingual is, I believe, unacceptable," Pommainville told the newspaper.