Publication Source: Ottawa Citizen
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Author: Elizabeth May
Re: For-profit doesn’t equal evil, Feb. 10.
The Citizen editorial accusing opponents of the Brewster Glacier Discovery Walk of hysteria misses the mark and trivializes a serious concern.
Our national parks are the highest and most rigorous levels of conservation values recognized by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature. The National Parks Act makes the protection of ecological integrity a core value of our system. Never before has a private company been allowed to alter the natural features of a park to draw visitors to any area outside of a town site. The fact that a private corporation will be running a concession to allow visitors to our park the privilege of walking along an imposed structure, no matter how lovely the view, is a violation of the core principles of our parks. In a similar case, the British Columbia court ruled that only alterations necessary to protect a park should be allowed – and that was a case of a provincial park with less stringent conservation requirements.
I have enjoyed private tours, including by Brewster, through our parks. I have had the great privilege of travelling by private rafting company down Yukon rivers. The fact it was a for-profit company that made it possible does not offend parks values. It would offend those values if they installed Disney-like mechanized wildlife to enhance the visitor experience. This decision is a mistake.
Elizabeth May, MP, Saanich-Gulf Islands Leader, Green Party of Canada