You can’t say you weren’t warned
Dear Editor,
A year or two ago, the government decided to lease the Tangle Ridge viewpoint to Brewsters so they could sell the views to the tourists. One hundred and eighty-thousand Canadians objected to the plan; among their many concerns was that privatizing that piece of the Icefields Parkway would open the doors for the sell-off of other Canadian assets in the Parks to foreign companies. Operating under the cover of the Brewsters name, its American owner, Viad, got top-level government backing for their plan.
Parks Canada, hit by severe funding cuts, backed that idea as a way to generate extra revenue for its activities, and helped push it through. Canadians were subjected to some of the most embarrassing public relations spin ever seen, though, as the government and Parks Canada excused an inadequate environmental and wildlife assessment, ducked and dodged to evade their legislated mandate, and ignored the legitimate concerns of Canadians from across the country. We saw the humiliating spectacle of the superintendent summoned to Ottawa to stand beside Peter Kent as he announced that the government would go ahead without consulting with Canadians.
We were also given repeated assurances that the “Discovery Walk” would lead to no other commercial projects, and rather than being an attempt to commercialize our national parks, its goal was simply to enhance the visitor experience.
And in spite of repeated assurances by the Conservative government, by Parks Canada and by Brewsters, at that time, we now see that the “slippery slope” that Canadians were so concerned about has come to pass. Since they got away with selling off Tangle Ridge to a foreign multi-national, the government has now taken that next fatal step forward to leasing all of the hot springs in the national parks to commercial operators. As one of the most avaricious foreign operators in the parks, Brewsters/Viad is at the top of the list.
Parks Canada’s justification for selling off the hot springs is that they have been revenue-neutral, and indeed they have been one of the best deals in the parks. For only $6.05 (or $18.35 for a family), you could spend the day soaking in the hot springs at Miette! In fact, while a price hike would have been easy to justify, best estimates of the new admission price are that it would immediately jump to at least $17. Instead of being a nice place for Canadians to go for a day of relaxation, the only people who will be able to afford it will be tourists, funnelled to the site like cattle on the Brewsters buses.
There is no financial justification for handing the hot springs at Banff, Radium or Miette over to a private company. For the real goal, we’d have to look a bit further. One obvious factor to consider is that Viad pays professional lobbyists to promote its agenda in Ottawa, a luxury Parks supporters and Canadian nationalists can’t afford.
Could it be that this is just another under-the-table deal by the government to put extra cash in the hands of commercial businesses? Is this just another plan to hand over more Canadian assets to foreign companies? Judging from what’s gone on before at the Icefields and in other commercial locations in the national parks, it sure looks like it.
As most of us know, the first national park in Canada was Banff, and it was originally created to preserve the hot springs there for Canadians to use. What evolved from that was the extensive network of national parks we have now, and the legislation that requires them to be preserved intact for future generations of Canadians to enjoy. If nothing else, the government is violating the spirit of the laws that protect the parks, and is selling off some of our most important heritage sites to private operators.
Peter McClure
Spruce Grove, AB
