Press Release: Alberta likely headed into “Park-gate” with overhaul of the parks legislation

Calgary: Either today or Monday, the Stelmach government is set to introduce into the Legislature, which they dominate, a new parks Act that conservation groups expect will undermine more than four decades of protection for Alberta’s provincial network of parks, if the likely changes are not defeated by a public outcry now. Concepts that the new Act is based on were put out last summer for public input through a question and answer form on the government’s website. Those include collapsing Natural Areas, Wilderness Areas, Wildland Parks, Ecological Reserves, Provincial Recreation Areas and Provincial Parks into only one kind of park, where the new parks Act would entrench discretion for the Minister to approve commercial tourism development in any park. The Tourism, Parks and Recreation Minister has not released a synthesis of the input they got on their concepts for the new Act, nor has she or her department held any technical briefings or meetings with the concerned public. Other concepts included removing protection provisions from the strength of being in the current Acts, to the discretion of some unknown future regulations to be developed by the government after they pass the new Act.

“Protection only through the discretion of the Minister instead of assurances in the Act is what it’s looking like,” sums up Sarah Elmeligi, Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society, Southern Alberta. “All provinces and territories, except Saskatchewan and the Maritime provinces, have stipulated in their Acts that the first priority is to protect or conserve natural areas and their ecological integrity.”

If the government’s concepts become entrenched in the new Act or by what it leaves out, Alberta will no longer have any legislated land-use designation that sets aside public land to preserve natural landscapes from degradation and harm for this generation, our children and grandchildren. Sixty percent of Alberta is public land. Citizens have a struggle ahead of them for their parks, with the Stelmach government holding 68 of the 83 seats in the Legislature where the new Act could be pushed through within a week or two.

“It’s clearly been an in-house agenda of the Minister and her Deputy to pull the teeth from the current parks Acts and dismantle the types of parks,” observes Dianne Pachal, Sierra Club Canada. “Two years ago they used various approaches to consult Albertans about a new policy, but for the new Act, which will be pretty much written in stone when passed, there was no comparable consultation. Anyone can see from their surveys on the policy that Albertan’s number one priority is setting aside more parks. Albertans didn’t ask for dismantling the types of parks or weakening the existing provisions in the Acts that preserve them from harm or degradation.” The surveys were only release after Cabinet approved the policy, Alberta’s Plan for Parks.

A similar overhaul of the parks legislation came forward from Ty Lund, MLA for Rocky Mountain House, in the Klien Government. That proposed Natural Heritage Act was defeated in 1999 by sustained, public outcry. Only national parks, Willmore Wilderness Park and Heritage Rangelands, which are parks established with the agreement of grazing lease holders, will be left unscathed by the proposed change, with their legislation continuing to state their purpose of preserving the natural landscape.

For more information:

Dianne Pachal, 403 234-7368, Alberta Wild Director, Sierra Club Canada Sarah Elmeligi, 403 688-8641(cell), Senior Conservation Planner, CPAWS-Southern Alberta

Press Release: Gala Evening Honors Canadian Environmental Conservation

Group to receive special award during Banff’s 125th anniversary year

October 12, 2010—The Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society invites Canadians to join in their celebration of the 125th anniversary of Canada’s first national park at a gala evening, November 12, 2010 at the Red and White Club, McMahon Stadium, Calgary where the 2010 J.B. Harkin Conservation Award winners will be honoured.

Click poster to enlarge

The J.B. Harkin Conservation Award honours individuals who have demonstrated a significant contribution throughout their lifetime to the conservation of Canada’s parks and wilderness. This year’s award recipients, members of the Panel on the Ecological Integrity of Canada’s National Parks, are responsible for producing a groundbreaking report in 2000 that led to world-leading standards for managing national parks to protect the ecological systems within them.

“We are delighted to honour these amazing Canadians who labored out of the limelight on the incredibly important task of ensuring that our national parks will be forever wild. We believe that J.B. Harkin, as founder of our country’s national parks system, would be thrilled with the Panel members’ work, conducted a century after he first laid out his vision for protecting our natural treasures,” says CPAWS Executive Director Eric Hebert-Daly.

The Harkin Award Gala will also feature keynote speaker, Professor Stephen Herrero from the University of Calgary, who has achieved worldwide recognition for his research on one of Canada’s most majestic animals, the Grizzly Bear.

CPAWS is also hosting a free afternoon seminar on November 12th, entitled The Future of Ecological Integrity In Our Parks and Protected Areas in the Olympic Room in the Volunteer Centre at the University of Calgary. This will be a thought-provoking seminar exploring the integrity of our national parks and where we are headed. The seminar will take place from 2:00pm to 4:30pm.

Seats may be reserved for the Harkin Award Gala at www.cpaws.org/harkin or by calling 1-800-333-9453. Individual tickets are $70 or purchase a table of eight for $520. Partial charitable tax receipts provided.

CONTACT: Name: Holly Postlethwaite, National Public Relations Coordinator

• 613-569-7226 ext.232
• hpostlethwaite@cpaws.org

The Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society (CPAWS) has been Canada’s voice for wilderness protection since 1963 and has taken a lead role in establishing two-thirds of Canada’s protected wild spaces. Learn more at www.cpaws.org

For more information please visit: http://www.cpaws.org/harkin/

Join CPAWS with Cross Canada Oceans Tour

Exciting talks from marine scientists, conservationists and traditional cultural performances from the Haida First Nation to celebrate the long-awaited creation of Canada's first deep sea National Marine Conservation Area in B.C.'s much revered Gwaii Haanas National Park Reserve waters.

Come out to the event in Calgary and enter to win a trip to Gwaii Haanas courtesy of Bluewater Adventures.

  Where:The Plaza in Kensington (1133 Kensington Rd NW)

  When: October 28th, 2010

  Time: Doors open at 6:30 pm-Presentation 7:00 - 8:30pm

  Tickets (at the door): $10