The issue of a national park for the South Okanagan has divided supporters and detractors for much of the past nine years, so it should come as little surprise local community leaders don’t share the same opinions following the recent announcement the provincial government has withdrawn support for the park.
John Slater, MLA for Boundary-Similkameen, was a vocal proponent in favour of a national park for the area for many years, however, he admits to a serious change of heart over the past several months and supports the province’s recent decision,
Osoyoos Mayor Stu Wells doesn’t agree and insists significant changes made to the size and scope of the proposed park could have appeased the concerns of all stakeholders and resulted in a national park everyone across the South Okanagan would be proud of for generations to come.
Slater insists the provincial government was satisfied following eight years of negotiations starting with Parks Canada undergoing a feasibility study, the majority of key stakeholders were not in favour of the national park and that’s why the decision to withdraw support was made a couple of weeks ago.
Slater lays the blame for what has happened directly at the door of Parks Canada management.
“People wanted answers to some serious questions and those questions were never answered,” said Slater. “After nine years and three months of discussions and negotiations, many of the same questions being asked at the beginning of the process, have never been answered by Parks Canada.
“That sort of tells you what kind of people you’re dealing with.”
Those is favour of the national park have engaged in a public relations battle strongly suggesting hunters and ATV enthusiasts have led the campaign against the park, said Slater.
The reality is there are many other key stakeholders who are not in favour of the park, said Slater.
They include ranchers, anglers, trail riders and other outdoor enthusiasts who want to continue to have free and open access to many parts of the park and Canadian Helicopters, the Penticton-based business which spends millions of dollars each year running training programs out of a site that would be gobbled up if the park was developed as proposed, he said.
“As an example of what has been going on, Canadian Helicopters was offered a five-year deal, but this was back in 2006, so that deal would now be expired and they would be out of business if the park was developed as proposed,” he said. “It’s this kind of lack of public information by Parks Canada that has upset a lot of people.”
After being directly involved in discussions and negotiations over many years, Slater said he now disagrees with proponents of the park insisting the economic benefits would be massive.
“This is not Jasper we’re talking about here,” he said.
While some jobs would be created, no formal business plan has ever been forwarded suggesting hundreds or thousands of job would be created because of the park, he said.
“Unless we have a thorough business plan up there, people aren’t buying into it,” he said. “Some in favour have suggested ranchers will get 10 times what they’re land is worth … that’s innuendo and simply not true.”
Slater said he’s talked to numerous ranchers over the years and their biggest frustration remains the lack of real information given to them by Parks Canada.
“They want to know what’s going on and they never get the information they want,” he said. “The fact is most of them want to get back to their way of life and not worry about this issue any longer.”
British Columbia is a province made up of outdoor enthusiasts and tens of thousands now flock to the South Okanagan each and every year to enjoy the water, land and mountains and that’s not going to change now that the national park proposal has been shot down, said Slater.
And he doesn’t believe the province is going to change its mind.
“In my opinion, this is a done deal,” he said. “Unless we can come up with a feasible plan that addresses the needs and concerns of all stakeholders and guarantees all users access they now enjoy, I just can’t see this changing.”
Wells said he remains shocked the province would withdraw its support for the national park with very little notice or fanfare after nine years of hard work and negotiations by so many people.
“To back out after more than eight years came as something of a serious surprise and I still find it very strange,” he said.
When asked his opinion on why he thinks the province made the decision it has, Wells said politics played a significant role.
“There was a very vocal and well-organized no position out there and they were well organized and they did their job very effectively,” he said. “They used signage and they never let up and they were relentless and it obviously had some effect.”
While he never wavered in his support for the national park, Wells said he believed it would become reality when Parks Canada reduced the size and scope and entered into serious negotiations with ranchers, First Nations leaders and other key stakeholders the past couple of years.
“I still believe a compromise with all the stakeholders could have been reached,” he said. “When I saw the new boundaries proposed a couple of years ago, which greatly reduced the size originally proposed, I really thought this would quell the opposition, but I guess I was wrong.”
Wells said he still believes “the majority of citizens” in the Osoyoos area and across the South Okanagan support the national park and the province’s decision won’t change his mind.
Having a national park in your area “is always something I consider to be a tremendous honour” and he remains upset it appears the issue is over for now, said Wells.
He disagrees with Slater and believes the economic benefits would have been substantial.
“It would be a huge economic driver if you look at the shape of our current economy,” he said. “Any injection of jobs and funds would be crucial.”
Wells did agree Parks Canada could have been more forthcoming with information during negotiations.
“They certainly march to the beat of their own drummer,” he said. “To be honest, I don’t know what they did or didn’t do during negotiations, but obviously not everyone was pleased.”
Wells doesn’t buy the idea of a national park for the South Okanagan is necessarily dead forever.
“I really don’t think there should have been winners and losers in this process, but that’s what it boiled down to,” he said. “Unfortunately, a compromise couldn’t be reached and the province made its decision, but decisions can be reversed and you never know.”
No one from Parks Canada would comment on the recent decision. A short written released on the Parks Canada website, stating “Parks Canada respects the position of the Government of British Columbia regarding the creation of a national park reserve in the South Okanagan – Lower Similkameen Valley and recognizes that it cannot proceed without the support of the Government of British Columbia.
“If the province changes its position and indicates it is prepared to proceed, Parks Canada would resume its work in this area. In order to respect the province’s perspective, Parks Canada will not publicly engage stakeholders on the proposal at this time.”
B.C. Environment Minister Terry Lake tried to contact the Osoyoos Times Monday afternoon, but could not be reached before Tuesday’s press deadline.
His office did release a press release stating “the province recognizes the important conservation values in the South Okanagan area, including some of the most ecologically valuable grasslands in British Columbia.
“The federal government, with support from the province, completed a feasibility study that included consultations with the public, First Nations, local and regional governments and stakeholder groups. While the feasibility study determined a national park reserve was feasible and there was some support, it also recognized there was a large contingent of people opposed to the initiative.”
The release further states like other national protected area initiatives involving provincial Crown lands, the province considers local and regional government, First Nation, stakeholder and public support as critical towards supporting the transfer of lands and eventual designation for federal protected area purposes.
“In this case, the province is not convinced there is enough local support to move forward with this proposal at this time.”
