The developer of a golf course proposed for Leamy Lake Park is set to begin an information and polling campaign to muster public support.

However, the people who want to protect the space say they won't give up, though they're worried some powerful forces are in favour of the development.

Nicole DesRoches on the banks of Leamy Lake

Nicole DesRoches is watching a perfect Leamy Lake Park scene: children have found a steep hill for tube sliding; a family's out walking, and two men are biking on the ice at the water's edge.

"It's really a wild place in the middle of the city. Look one way and the city's behind you and there's nothing but trees and a lake," says DesRoches.

DesRoches is one of the leaders of SOS Leamy, the citizens' group that wants to stop the golf course that will further encroach on the park.

SOS Leamy collected 14,000 signatures of people who are against the project. That seems to count to Loto Quebec's development arm, Casiloc. It says it won't build the course unless a majority of those polled want it.

DesRoches remains skeptical. She says the poll should have been taken before politicians massed behind the project and before Loto Quebec spent a $1 million on a design.

"They're consulting us on a done project. They're not consulting us on the concept of an idea," says DesRoches. "Can they justify this project? Do we need a golf course? Do we want to golf in this park?"

There will be a federal assessment of the project — including a public consultation — and DesRoches hopes to have some influence on that.

She's worried because the poll on which the final decision will be based will be conducted by the developer behind the project.