Parks Canada has released a working boundary for its proposed national park reserve. The boundaries include areas between Highway 3 and Highway 97. (Parks Canada)
Re: Council denies MLA’s request to support national park referendum
Dear Editor:
It was extremely disappointing to read that Osoyoos town council has decided not to join the Town of Oliver in supporting a referendum on the proposed national park reserve in the South Okanagan.
While the mayor and council are elected to make ongoing decisions regarding management of the town, occasionally, large issues arise that will have a significant effect on the majority of citizens for a long period of time. Such issues would be well served by obtaining the choice of the majority of citizens by the most scientific method possible.
Citizens are done a disservice when a government, at any level, asks for “feedback” and then does whatever it intended to do in the first place. No meaningful, accurate solution is obtained by bureaucrats scrolling through reams of text from these “feedback” collections.
The opportunity for all citizens of the area to vote once, on a specific, impartial question would be the democratic solution to a proposed national park reserve.
Not supporting a referendum because “your side” may lose is, again, doing citizens a disservice.
Considering the ethical chaos within the current federal government, and with a federal election looming, relying on it to provide the best long-term outcome for the South Okanagan is inadvisable.
One only has to look at the current issue involving Banff National Park and Sunshine Village ski resort to understand a small part of the implications for private business when dealing with Parks Canada.
Jim Thornton,
Osoyoos
