A group takes a tour along the boardwalk at the Osoyoos Desert Centre amidst its antelope brush ecosystem. (Richard McGuire file photo)
Dear Editor:
Linda Larson, our MLA for Boundary-Similkameen, has made headlines for making an effort to have the Osoyoos Desert Centre declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
She dares compare the Osoyoos Desert Centre to the Taj Mahal, Egyptian Pyramids, the Great Barrier Reef and other such sites?
In my opinion, she is probably still playing marbles when she spends her time in Victoria with a few likeminded MLA’s. Who in his/her right mind comes up with this idea and would dream that the comparison to these wonders of the world is even vaguely close?
Sites that are comparable to the Osoyoos Desert Centre can be found by the dozens all across the North American continent.
Anyone who has travelled North America, Europe and Asia knows and has experienced this.
These are, however, not statements meant to take away from the importance of our Osoyoos Desert Centre, which, with the efforts of many volunteers, has proven a great tourist destination for many years now.
To call then a meeting to propose her idea without input of the federal government or Parks Canada was ridiculous.
To top it off, the only key politicians invited were RDOS board chair Mark Pendergraft and Okanagan Coquihalla MP Dan Albas. Again this was ridiculous.
Of course as she said, “I don’t need a whole room full of politicians.”
Larson’s idea that hers is an attempt “to protect the fragile environment and to attract tourism” overlooks the fact that both these items have been taken care of for many years already.
Her square-headed refusal to even discuss the establishment of a national park proves to most of the Boundary-Similkameen constituents that she is completely out of touch as the MLA for our area.
I wish it were possible for someone to start a recall action against her before we become the laughingstock of this province and the country.
Art Molenkamp
Osoyoos, B.C.
