Premier Christy Clark spoke at a South Okanagan Chamber of Commerce lunch last Thursday. Although it wasn’t part of her talk, it was hard for her to avoid the national park issue. She was lobbied at a cocktail party by both sides of the issue. (Richard McGuire photo)
Premier Christy Clark got an earful about the national park issue when she and her cabinet were in Osoyoos for a retreat last week.
Both the “yes” and “no” sides were out in force at a cocktail reception at Spirit Ridge, buttonholing the premier and ministers about the issue. Some also attended a lunch on Thursday sponsored by the South Okanagan Chamber of Commerce at Silver Sage Winery.
While the premier left no cracks of light on the issue between herself and Environment Minister Mary Polak, and she said very little, it’s what she didn’t say that caused some to take notice.
Asked point blank by the Osoyoos Times if she has ruled out a national park, Clark dodged the question, leaving wiggle room, while making it clear a national park is not her first choice.
“I know that it’s very controversial,” said Clark. “It’s not something we have been working towards, for sure. I think there are lots of ways we can protect all the things that a national park would protect without ending up with a model that makes it really inflexible for folks in the region. So I think there’s a good way to do it. It doesn’t have to be a national park.”
Doreen Olson, co-ordinator of the SOS National Park Network, said the premier and ministers were more accessible to discuss the issue at the cocktail party than at the lunch.
“We know there were at least 25 park supporters at that cocktail party,” said Olson. “Nearly everyone asked her about the park.”
Opponents of the park were present too, also lobbying cabinet.
Greg Norton, an orchardist and spokesperson for the Grassland Park Review Coalition, posed for pictures with Environment Minister Polak and several anti-park ranchers were also seen among the guests.
When called for comment, Norton said he was too busy with the cherry harvest to speak to a reporter.
Negotiations between the province and the federal government to establish a national park reserve in the South Okanagan-Lower Similkameen continued for almost a decade until the province abruptly withdrew at the end of 2011 citing a lack of local support.
Clark has previously maintained that there isn’t local support for a national park, but a recent poll found that respondents in the Boundary-Similkameen support a park by a margin of two-to-one.
This time Clark acknowledged there are voices on both sides of the issue.
“What I’ve heard from people, I know there is a lot of sometimes polarized debate about it, … is there is more than one way to get there,” she said, adding that people need to agree on the values they want to protect first.
“Let’s find a solution that works for everybody if we can,” she said. “That’s what we’re focused on.”
The premier said Polak has been meeting with people in the region on the issue to discuss what values need to be protected.
“I think there’s going to be pretty broad agreement about that,” she said. “We need to protect endangered species, we need to protect biodiversity, we need to protect our environment. There are no debates about that, so once we’ve agreed on those values then the question is how do we protect it. And there are lots of different ways to get to that.”
Park supporter Olson said both Polak and Clark called a national park “a blunt instrument,” though she’s not sure what this means.
At one point Polak told her that MLA Linda Larson has been working on the issue and there may be a basis for a small national park.
The minister clarified that she was referring to Larson’s suggestion that the Osoyoos Desert Centre be made Canada’s smallest national park.
“I was so angry when she said that,” said Olson. “I said it’s laughable in the community. People are just laughing about that. It’s ridiculous.”
Park supporter Jim Wyse, owner of Burrowing Owl Estate Winery and a director at large in Larson’s constituency association, said he didn’t question the premier, but they did chat.
“We certainly keep reminding the premier and all the other people that I talked to about the results of the poll,” he said. “I am on the riding association now with Linda Larson so our internal objective is of course to win the election. I keep saying this is a popular item and we should be supporting it.”
Wyse said that in a brief conversation with the premier about six months ago, she told him gaining Larson’s support is the key on this issue.
“I’m disappointed that Linda has not listened to the constituency and I told her that,” Wyse said. “She knows exactly where I sit on this and we kind of agree to disagree on it, but I’m not giving up.”
The premier would not have been able to avoid the park issue even if she tried.
When she spoke at the chamber of commerce lunch last Thursday, there was a card sitting on the top of her podium saying, “Yes national park.”
She glanced at it and turned it over.
Bob Parker, a retired graphic designer, admitted he made the card and put it there to express his personal opinion. Parker said he is not a member of any group on the issue.
“This was a political statement on my part,” he said. “Maybe you call it guerrilla advertising.”
RICHARD McGUIRE
Osoyoos Times
