What you haven’t been told about Alberta’s plan for parks
By Letter to the Editor on September 11, 2020.
Although the UCP Government announced on March 3 the plan to change parks, it actually began in October 2019. One hundred and sixty-four sites were identified for removal – a savings of $1.14 per Albertan. Land-base wise that is only .3 per cent but it equates to 37 per cent of Alberta parks and 4,000 campsites.
I have obtained a copy of FOIP documents called “Right Sizing Alberta Parks.” The documents outline the presentation used for the Minister of Environment and Parks meeting the cabinet. Some of the information does provide legitimate questions but the process Minister Jason Nixon chose to take was not the wisest. First, after consultation had been done within government, the minister’s advice to cabinet was that no public consultation should be done. It is not even clear that MLAs were involved. Second, an additional $12 million is targeted to be removed from the 2021 Parks budget. Third, the government made a platform commitment to “modernize environmental legislation for the 21st Century.”
How does that fit with rescinding the coal policy and removing restrictions for open-pit coal mining in the foothills where there are at least six foreign-owned coal companies waiting to rip and tear up the mountains?
Impacts on water sources such as the Oldman River, Clearwater and North Saskatchewan rivers can’t be underestimated. The presentation also specifically states divested land includes “leasing and selling to external body.”
If anyone wants to learn more about “what you haven’t been told about Alberta’s plan to optimize parks,” contact the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society at infoab@cpaws.org.
Barbara Olsen
Ponoka
9-8
I was taught years ago by former MLAs from the Lougheed government that you can’t trust members of the Reform Party and they were certainly right. Jason Kenney has been a worse disaster than Ralph Klein and it’s not surprising that his popularity has tanked.
I happened across a study done in 2009 that proved that Albertans are 42% more likely to be fooled than any other Canadians and I certainly believe it. Voting for the word conservative and ignoring who is hiding behind it has been a financial disaster for this province , but we just keep on doing it.
Agreed, this Kenney UCP politics is not the more inclusive fiscal progressive conservatism of yore that my Alberta grandparents experienced. It is the much more, disturbing, populist authoritarianism type of ultra right wing politics. It is a real shame that this is not well understood by more Albertans.
Neoliberalism writ large!
Everything and everybody is categorized as a commodity.
Profit and bottom line supersede any social contract.
Remember Harper telling his American friends, “You won’t recognize Canada when I get through with it”?
This echo grows exponentially in Alberta.
Like Ralph Klein he doesn’t care who he hurts in the process. Isn’t it ironic that they were both Liberals, turned Reformer?
Who cares what people in alberta think?
None of you matter.
KBR, Murphy Oil, Halliburton, Chinese corporations. THEY MATTER.
All of those yokels vote for people like harper and kenney as if they matter to people like them.
YOU don’t matter to jason kenney and KBR. YOU DO NOT MATTER to stephen harper and any one of his corporate vampire buddies.
One day you may understand that and take control of your country, but you likely won’t. Ya’ll are too focused on scapegoating onto the drug addicts or the indians or the scary leftists that you think are trying to get you!
OMG they’re trying to get you to call boys girls and girls boys! ooooooooooooohhhhhhh scarrrrrryyyyyyy…
lol
you don’t matter, to any of them.
🙂 right on!
That’s what we get when we elect an non-Albertan to disgrace our Province. We should not have to go to Ottawa to get a capable person because I don’t believe we could find one there, and that’s now a proven fact.
Not to forget, Harper appeared to have wanted Kenney, groomed Kenney, whatever else Kenney….reminiscent of Harper’s involvement in the ultra right wing ‘Northern Foundation.’ They, both, also appeared to vouch for Erin O’Toole, who has been described as a mini-Harper. I don’t think we need to suffer any illusions of this possible/probable ongoing work to promote ultra right wing populist authoritarianism.
well said!