It’s sometimes difficult to nail down the truth when news stories break over the holiday season. That appears to be the case with this week’s story about federal-provincial talks on a possible national park reserve.
First, on Dec. 28, The Penticton Western News published a report based on MLA Linda Larson’s update on the national park to the Dec. 15 board meeting of the Regional District of Okanagan-Similkameen.
Larson was quoted as saying, “It (the establishment of a national park) is not off the table, but Parks Canada does not want to talk to us.”
The report went on to quote Larson as saying, “Parks Canada is not coming to the table on those kinds of things,” referring to ranching, hunting, fishing and a helicopter school.
We checked with Larson, Parks Canada and the Ministry of Environment and the story seemed to shift – not helped by the fact that communications people had a hard time over the holidays getting answers from their officials.
Larson confirmed to us that the Penticton Western News report was accurate, but then she said: “Parks Canada has been engaged by the Minister of Environment’s staff and has not been receptive to an ‘out of the box’ national park. Talks are continuing and I am still hopeful that they will partner in some way with the province on park development.”
So were there talks, or weren’t there?
Complicating the matter, a Parks Canada spokesperson initially sent us a statement saying there were no talks and they hadn’t even been approached by the province.
On Tuesday morning, they called us back to say they’d learned from officials that there had in fact been preliminary talks at the staff level.
Meanwhile, a spokesman for the B.C. Ministry of Environment said there have been no formal discussions although technical staff have begun to engage.
“It is too early to determine Parks Canada’s views on the current proposal or whether they are willing to alter their previous position,” the B.C. Environment Ministry spokesman said.
All this is confusing, but it is good news.
For several years now, the province has closed the door completely on any talks. Now there are at least tentative steps by technical staff to see whether there is any basis for formal discussions that could involve officials at the political level.
Larson probably overstated Parks Canada’s intransigence when she spoke to the RDOS. She has, after all, made commitments to those in the hunting and ranching communities and she has to show that she is still defending their interests.
But the good news is that even she is prepared to engage in dialogue with Parks Canada in the hopes of finding a solution that those on all sides of the issue can live with.
Until those at the political level return to the table, it is unrealistic to expect that federal or provincial positions will change. But Parks Canada has already demonstrated flexibility on the issues – ranching, hunting, fishing and the helicopter school – that are of most concern to Larson.
There’s only a short window of opportunity. The B.C. government no doubt wants to see this issue resolved one way or the other before they go to the polls in the May provincial election.
We’re hopeful that with the holidays behind us, the two levels of government and First Nations can get down to some serious discussions and we can create a lasting legacy with this unique environment for the people in this region and Canadians in general.
