Taxpayer dollars shouldn’t be used to fund an RV park

By Lethbridge Herald on July 30, 2022.

Editor: 

In regards to Alvin Shier’s letter, “Lethbridge needs a city-owned RV Park to accommodate visitors”, the author is only half right. Yes, there is a shortfall in the number of RV spots available. The unnecessary loss of facilities at the Lethbridge Exhibition grounds has left a hole in the marketplace that has yet to be filled. Mr. Shier is mistaken in his belief that it is the City’s responsibility to own and operate commercial businesses. An RV park is not in the same category of need compared to transit services. We have one very good RV facility operator in Lethbridge already. If adding more capacity makes such good sense, then we need to be asking ourselves why the private sector has not seen the merit in filling that void. 

The City has no business using increasingly scarce taxpayer dollars for desirable but non-essential service to compete with a private sector operator. Instead, the City should be looking at it’s own policies regarding land development, licensing, inspections, and extraneous expenditures that make Lethbridge an unnecessarily expensive and frustrating place to do business. A guiding principal of conservatism is not for government to try and fix every perceived ill in the world. Rather, the legitimate role of government is to facilitate a safe, healthy and competitive environment where the private sector can do its job as it sees fit. 

Dale Leier 

Lethbridge