B.C. Environment Minister Mary Polak was in the South Okanagan on Friday to meet with groups on all sides of the national park issue. She wants to find compromise between the groups but says she has no mandate to consider a national park. (Photo supplied)
B.C. Environment Minister Mary Polak was in the South Okanagan Friday trying to bridge the gap between supporters and opponents of a national park.
Polak, ministerial staff and local MLA Linda Larson held three separate meetings with local First Nations, opponents and supporters of the proposed national park reserve in the South Okanagan-Similkameen grasslands.
“I continue to believe that there is some common ground to be found,” Polak said in an interview Friday. “Unfortunately to date it’s been kind of eclipsed by a pretty positional debate as opposed to a discussion around the things we’d like to get done.”
Polak said her approach is to look at the objectives that people want to see incorporated into any future plan for the land in question and see what the right tool or tools are to achieve those objectives.
Currently, however, the tools she is willing to consider do not include a national park.
“At this stage, I have not been directed to take a different position,” she said. “Of course our position as government is that we don’t see a national park as a solution, so that position hasn’t changed.”
Polak said, however, that there are other tools that can be used to protect the land base.
“I think the more important conversation is what it is we are trying to achieve,” she said. “If a convincing argument is made that a national park is the way to achieve that, well we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it, but I think it’s too early at this stage.”
Park supporters said they appreciated that the minister was willing to listen, but they still insist a national park is the best way to attract international tourism, protect the fragile environment and to fund the work that is needed.
“I thought it was very positive that she was up here,” said outgoing Osoyoos Mayor Stu Wells, who attended the meeting for park supporters. That meeting also included representatives of environmental groups, the South Okanagan Chamber of Commerce (SOCC), the Thompson-Okanagan Tourism Association, wineries and others.
“It was a very positive and sincere meeting,” Wells added, saying the minister received a lot of information.
Wells and others, however, insist that national park designation is essential to be able to market the area to international visitors.
“The national park has a very unique cachet about it that you can market to the world,” said Wells. “National parks are an attraction. National Park is a brand.”
Wells said supporters of a park are willing to look at an alternate platform and they are pleased that the minister intends to have a follow-up meeting in the spring, but he notes that the province doesn’t have any kind of designation that would match the status of a national park.
“What would Pacific Rim be if it wasn’t a national park?” Wells asked. “If you said let’s go over to Tofino, it’s a protected area or let’s go over to Tofino, it’s a national park, to me there’s a vast difference.”
Holly Plante, a past president of SOCC who has also represented the Greater Westside Board of Trade on the issue, also applauded the minister’s willingness to listen. Although Plante is willing to look at alternatives that Polak may propose, she said any alternative would need to measure up to the type of funding the federal government is committed to providing for a national park reserve.
“I don’t really see an option that would measure up to the national park,” said Plante. “It’s an all-encompassing scenario where the existing practices can be honoured, there’s the (financial) injection for tourism and there’s the protection of the environment and all the extras that come along with it such as trail development and all kinds of additional funding.”
Doreen Olson, co-ordinator of the SOS National Park Network, said park supporters told Polak that the land needs a higher level of protection than what could be offered by a provincial park.
“There is no protection,” she said of the present situation where a portion of the land is a BC Parks protected area. “They just can’t do it. That park would need at least 15 people to monitor what’s going on there. They just can’t do it from a provincial standpoint. They have one person now and they only have her for part time in the summer.”
The meetings with stakeholders come on the heels of a recommendation by the all-party B.C. Select Standing Committee on Finances and Government Services that calls on the provincial government to “work with the federal government and local stakeholders to assess the feasibility of and support for the establishment of a new national park in the South Okanagan-Similkameen.”
Polak said it’s not her place as an individual minister to respond to the committee’s report and that report’s many recommendations just represent what the committee heard as it travelled the province seeking input on the 2015 budget.
“There are times when government adopts those and times when they don’t,” she said.
That assessment was shared by committee chair and B.C. Liberal MLA Dan Ashton who was reluctant to comment on the report’s recommendation beyond saying it represented what the committee heard and the report speaks for itself.
Carole James, the NDP vice chair of the finance committee, said groups speaking about the park presented it as a financial opportunity because it will generate revenue without costing the provincial government.
It’s not often that there’s an opportunity that the province doesn’t need to put financial resources into it and where the federal government has put money aside to fund it, she said.
James said she is concerned that if the province doesn’t allow the park to proceed that the money could go elsewhere.
“As we all know, resources are tight across this country and in our province,” said James. “I’m certain that there are other jurisdictions that could say to the federal government ‘we’re ready now, so we’ll take the resources now.’ That’s my concern. Let’s not miss an opportunity here.”
Despite a growing number of organizations and local governments that have passed resolutions calling for the province to return to discussions with the federal government, Minister Polak said she doesn’t get a sense that opinion is shifting on the issue.
“It’s still, from what I observed, very divided, I’d say almost down the middle in terms of what I’m seeing and hearing from people,” said Polak. “The gauging of public opinion on things like this is a tricky matter.”
She noted that it’s one thing for representative organizations to speak out and take a position, but she points out that chambers of commerce and boards of trade for 10 years argued in support of a harmonized sales tax (HST).
“We all know how that story ended,” Polak said. “It’s valid to take into account what representative organizations have to say… but we also have to remember the broader group of folks who are just doing their living and working on the land and aren’t necessarily represented by those organizations.”
Plante said she remains hopeful that the ongoing talks with the minister and her staff will be productive.
“I think it’s good they’re open and that we actually got to sit down with them and talk,” said Plante. “I hope they’re open sincerely and they’re not just going through the motions so that they can close the door forever.”
RICHARD McGUIRE
Osoyoos Times
