Last summer, the Government of Alberta did something clever: It conducted an online survey asking Albertans what they wanted to see in a modern park plan.
More than 4,900 people participated in the survey, and the majority want parks and protected areas to be affordable, accessible to people with disabilities, and with lots of hiking trails and opportunities to get out in nature.
Postmedia got its hands on a 26-page internal government report summarizing the results through a freedom of information request.
What Albertans Want
It also showed what Albertans don’t want: more fees, commercial development, and motorized recreation.
According to the survey, 82 percent of respondents opposed creating more opportunities for motorized recreation, making it one of the least supported ideas in the survey.
The majority of Albertans surveyed also oppose an increase in electric gizmos like hoverboards and e-scooters in parks, with three out of four people opposed.
At the same time, more than two-thirds of respondents opposed the idea of more private companies running recreational businesses in parks.
Large-scale commercial development also got a big thumbs down, with 83 percent opposed.
What About Nature?
CPAWS (Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society—Southern Alberta Chapter) says the Plan for Parks survey’s guiding principles were missing one important element: any mention of nature conservation.
After all, it’s right there in the description of Alberta’s Provincial Parks Act.
The act is meant to provide “for the establishment, protection, management, planning and control of provincial parks, wildland parks and provincial recreation areas, for the preservation of Alberta’s natural heritage and ecological integrity, as well as for the benefit and enjoyment of current and future generations.”
Jason Kenney’s Insult to the Lougheed Legacy
Park fees are another pain point for many Albertans. In 2021, mid-COVID-19, then-Premier Jason Kenney slapped a $15 per day or an annual $90 Kananaskis Conservation Fee on vehicles entering K-Country.
At the time, Calgary-Buffalo MLA Joe Ceci called the fee “an insult to Peter Lougheed’s legacy.”
The late Conservative Premier of Alberta recognized the importance of nature conservation and was convinced to create Kananaskis Country in 1978 as a place all Albertans could enjoy.
Kenney had other ideas about parks and protecting nature. Public pressure forced him to walk back a 2020 plan to delist 184 parks and privatize others.
The K-Country fee generates $12 million annually three years after its launch. The province says most of it is pumped back into the park, and the fee now makes up 60 percent of the park’s annual budget.
Most Albertans agree that parks need to be appropriately funded. However, as the recent survey shows, not everybody believes a user-pay model is the way to go.
The public’s period to give input on the Plan for Parks closed on August 18. The Ministry of Forestry and Parks says it’s using the results to draft a new plan.
“Your feedback, along with government direction, research, analysis and lessons learned from the original plan, will help shape a new plan for parks so that current and future generations can continue to discover, value, protect and enjoy Alberta’s parks and the benefits they provide,” according to the forestry and parks website.
