A new public opinion poll to be made public Wednesday shows significantly increased support for a national park reserve in South Okanagan-Similkameen.
Depending on the sample area, support for a national park ranges from 65 per cent to 76 per cent.
In the Regional District of Okanagan-Similkameen (RDOS), support has increased to 69 per cent from 63 per cent in a similar poll conducted in 2010.
This could put new pressure on the provincial government, which withdrew abruptly in January 2012 from talks with the federal government aimed at establishing the national park. The BC Liberal government cited lack of public support as its reason for withdrawing.
The new poll found opposition to a national park ranged from 14 to 27 per cent depending on the area sampled. In the RDOS, opposition decreased to 21 per cent from 26 per cent in the 2010 poll.
The RDOS numbers exclude Area H, which surrounds Princeton, but include Areas A to G.
Both the new poll and the 2010 one were conducted by McAllister Opinion Research, a Vancouver-based firm specializing in opinion polling on environmental and sustainability issues.
The recent poll was conducted by telephone from March 9 to 13 and reached 501 respondents.
Support for a national park differed somewhat between those residing in the provincial electoral district of Boundary-Similkameen and those in the provincial riding of Penticton, where support was slightly higher.
In Boundary-Similkameen, 65 per cent of respondents support a park compared to 76 per cent in Penticton. Opposition is at 27 per cent in Boundary Similkameen compared to only 14 per cent in Penticton.
Those in Boundary-Similkameen saying they “strongly favour” a national park made up 41 per cent, more than double the 19 per cent who “strongly oppose” a park.
The poll also found little difference in support for the park between supporters of the BC Liberal Party and the NDP with supporters of both parties showing a total of 71 per cent in favour of a park.
Opposition, however, was somewhat higher among supporters of the BC Liberals, with 26 per cent opposed compared to 17 per cent of NDP supporters who oppose a park.
There were a few surprises.
When respondents were compared based on their professions or household activities, the group with the highest support for a park (79 per cent) was those who run a farm or ranch as a business. This could be based on the small sample as only 13 per cent of respondents, about 65 people, fit this category.
The lowest support, but still 67 per cent, was found among those who participate in riding ATVs or snowmobiling.
Linda Larson, the MLA for Boundary-Similkameen, has been a staunch opponent of the national park reserve. Dan Ashton, the MLA for Penticton, supported the park in his capacity as RDOS chair before being elected to the provincial government, but has since muted that support.
Late last year BC Environment Minister Mary Polak met with local stakeholders including supporters, opponents and First Nations in an effort to look at options for protecting the area’s habitat other than a national park.
A significant majority (62 per cent) of poll respondents, however, rejected the notion that existing BC government protections for endangered species and habitat are more than sufficient and that federal protection isn’t needed.
Community leaders and representatives from the tourism industry are expected to be at Wednesday’s announcement at the Watermark Beach Resort.
The poll’s margin of error is said to be plus or minus 4.4 per cent with 95 per cent confidence for the entire sample of 501.
For each of the two provincial ridings, this margin is 6.2 per cent and for the RDOS it is 5.1 per cent.
Richard McGuire
Special to the Chronicle
