Dear Editor:
This letter is written in regards to the so-called overwhelming positive response to the public opinion survey regarding a national park in this area of British Columbia.
I question the real validity for the people who are actually going to be living within these still-to-be-established boundaries.
Nobody at this time knows what the classification for this park is going to be. Is it to be a class A, class B, class C or class D?
Nobody knows for sure if the towns or municipalities are to be included in the park and, therefore, have the same obligations and rules such as guests staying over for the night and have the obligation to pay for park fees.
I believe that local MLA Linda Larson is more versed in this situation and I, for one, am pleased to see that she is not overwhelmed by this survey that leaves all of these questions untouched.
If one looks closely at survey questions 3 and 4, one wonders if these questions can not be considered so slanted in the direction for a favourite response.
When Ross Fitzpatrick started this idea, I believe in 2006, he suggested boundaries and made sure that his property was close, but outside those boundaries.
Some advocates are suggesting that wildlife would have a chance to travel from the United States to Canada, but there is no park on the American areas that connect as far as I have found.
I believe to live in an area that could be included inside the national park in regional area A and presume that the taxes for this area may only go up when the federal government will get involved as well, but all those who voted in the survey probably did not consider this aspect.
Peter Newport
Osoyoos, B.C.
