Richard McGuire
A day before major wildfires broke out at Testalinden Creek and Wilson’s Mountain near Oliver, grabbing everyone’s attention, the provincial government made a major announcement on the national park issue.
After four years of saying there would be no national park, the provincial Liberals have now put forward a discussion paper proposing a national park reserve in two important parts of the 2010 proposed park concept area.
It also extends the park proposal to add the excellent bird watching area around White Lake and stretches the boundaries to include the Osoyoos Desert Centre and Spotted Lake.
On any other week, this might have been front-page news, but on that particular week the horrendous wildfires pushed all other news to the back pages.
Like any compromise, people on both sides of the issue will find flaws with the idea and no one will be completely satisfied with the province’s proposal. But the provincial government deserves credit for coming up with a very good framework for finding a solution that everyone can live with.
MLA Linda Larson has long been one of the park’s strongest opponents, although she did participate with Environment Minister Mary Polak in consultations with stakeholders on all sides of the issue.
Larson’s tepid statement following the province’s announcement suggests the policy reversal was probably made at a higher level, only with her reluctant acquiescence.
My guess is that it took the direct involvement of Premier Christy Clark to step in and tell environment minister Polak to fix this festering political problem.
When I spoke to Polak last November, she said she had no mandate to consider a national park. Only one person could change Polak’s mandate and that would be the premier. In June, Clark and her cabinet held a retreat in Osoyoos where they were heavily lobbied by both sides on the park issue.
This followed strong statements in support of the park from tourism and environmental organizations as well as statements calling for a return to discussions from the B.C. Chamber of Commerce, the Union of B.C. Municipalities (UBCM) and area regional districts.
The Town of Osoyoos council has strongly supported a park, as has the opposition NDP.
Even government members on the all-party finance committee called for a resumption of talks.
Clearly the premier stepped in because she doesn’t want this to be an election issue when the provincial government returns to the polls in May 2017.
Opponents of the park obviously would have been happier to see the status quo continue, with the province remaining opposed to reopening discussions. Many of them no doubt wished the whole issue would just go away.
Orchardist Greg Norton has been a vocal opponent in the past, but he hasn’t returned my phone calls lately. I did, however, talk to rancher Mark Quaedvlieg, another opponent, who is concerned that the province’s discussion paper asks too many open-ended questions that potentially invite park supporters to seek more territory.
He worries the discussion could end up being never ending.
Some park supporters were elated that the province opened the door to a national park reserve – something they weren’t expecting – but others are concerned that a large area between Oliver, Cawston and Highway 3, including Mount Kobau, would remain poorly protected as a provincial conservancy.
Protection of habitat, they insist, requires connectivity. Some note the province’s proposal for a national park reserve also leaves out an important area east of Vaseux Lake, which was in the 2010 concept area. My view is that the province’s proposal is an excellent starting point at resolving this divisive issue and hopefully the two sides can come together to support it. For park opponents, the province reaffirms some important principles that documents show Parks Canada already agrees with – grazing tenures will be maintained and private property will only be acquired for a park on a willing-seller, willing-buyer basis. Ranching won’t be threatened.
Also, a large area closest to some of the strongest opponents in Oliver and Cawston will remain under provincial conservancy protection, allowing these people to continue such recreational activities as hunting and riding their quads. While park supporters don’t get everything they want, they would get a sizeable area of national park reserve that would give this region the cachet to promote national and international tourism.
Parks Canada would gain a local presence and could begin the process of assembling land in some of the most environmentally sensitive areas. They could also begin protecting areas that the province has not had the resources to protect. The proposal also calls for a strong First Nations involvement and a national park reserve doesn’t adversely affect any unresolved aboriginal land claims.
Nobody will find the province’s proposal perfect, but it is fair and credible and tries to strike a balance between competing interests. There’s a very short time window to comment before the Oct. 12 deadline. If too many people hold out for the perfect plan, they will miss this opportunity and see years of continued deadlock during which more of this unique and precious landscape will be lost.
The provincial proposal is not the final solution. But it’s a very good start at getting a constructive dialogue restarted.
RICHARD McGUIRE
Osoyoos Times
