An article appearing in the May 20 edition of large Vancouver daily regarding the proposed South Okanagan Similkameen Grasslands National Park Reserve may prove rankling to Similkameen residents who thought the issue dead.
The article claims that debate on the issue is over, arguing the province should reopen discussions with the federal government, as all stakeholders issues have been satisfied by Parks Canada.
We suspect there might be some disagreement in the Similkameen to the statements and arguments put forward in the article, which appears to have been a collaborative effort between a number of local special interest groups.
There appears to be a tendency amongst those enthusiastically supporting a national park in the area to gloss over the concerns of those whose livelihoods would be most affected by the creation of a national park in the neighbourhood.
The problem is, present day assurances and guarantees of grandfathered rights for activities that basically make or break a national park’s philisophical reason for being just don’t sit well with those who know only too well how rules of the game change once a power - like Parks Canada - take control.
There is also the issue, highlighted in recent weeks in the media - regarding the current dissaray Parks Canada is currently mired in, which, by the way, faces budget cuts as well.
The position portrayed by the article - that there is no more need for debate - presents a rather simplistic view of this issue to Lower Mainlanders, most of whom only see the issue as a means of environmental protection (without an awareness of the protection continuously being added to the park area that is presently occurring without damaging the existing economy).
The province exhibited an insightful perspective when it halted discussions with the federal govermment over the park, realizing the incompatibility of such a proposal in an area that has seen development for over a century. The province also has a more thorough understanding of the whole debate- environmentally and otherwise - surrounding the issue of a federally regulated park.
It is our hope the province continues the path it is currently on, which is both practical and protective.