Linda Larson (file photo)

By Dale Boyd

Osoyoos Times

MLA Linda Larson has “asked for some research” from her staff, though right now she has no evidence to back up her claim of “outside influences” having an impact on the establishment of a national park reserve in the South Okanagan.

In a July 3 interview with CBC Daybreak South’s Chris Walker about the memorandum of understanding signed for the national park reserve, Larson stated:

“I’m also very concerned about outside influences that are actually pushing this thing forward. Most of the support for this park is coming from outside of the area and from conservation groups from all over the country and the world.”

When asked to elaborate by Walker, Larson mentioned Greenpeace and other environmental groups spending money in Canada, but did not say how it related to the national park reserve.

“My comment was a generalization pointed at the many environmental organizations that influence land use planning in B.C.,” Larson said in an email response to questions from the Osoyoos Times.

• Read more: Indigenous leaders sign historic national park document

“Many of the surveys conducted on the National Park were done by CPAWS. (I) did not intend to create that much angst. As Alberta is starting its own investigation into outside money influencing decisions I simply wondered if that could also be the case in the  process of the South Okanagan push for a park,” Larson stated in the email.

CPAWS is the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society, a registered Canadian charity.

MP Richard Cannings, a longtime environmentalist and proponent of the park reserve, says many of the theories of outside environmental influence have been debunked, and he has not heard of any foreign money influencing the process of establishing a park.

• Read more: Concerns raised over water use in proposed national park reserve

“Those claims have been largely debunked,” Cannings said. “Environmental groups in Canada are always looking for funds, and I think if you look at the aggregate total of funds that come into Canada through those groups from the United States, it’s very small. It’s like three per cent of their operating income.”

He also pointed to the foreign money coming in to the oil and gas sector.

“You have to turn it around and say what about all the foreign money coming for Kinder Morgan, you know? So you kind of shake your head. It’s just a narrative that sounds good to the conservative base I guess and they run with it, but you can read all sorts of articles that debunk those claims and show how meaningless those funds are in the big picture,” Cannings said.