Today an Alberta Environment spokesperson said "it was never the plan to 'delist' parks": cbc.ca/news/canada/ed…
In February, the Environment Minister sent a briefing to UCP MLAs: "We will also initiate the proposed removal of 164 under-utilized sites from the parks system..."
This briefing note also broke the proposed removal of these 164 sites from the parks system into two groups:
The briefing went on to say "deregulated sites would have the park designation removed" & be made available "for other land uses, if desired."
"Divestment means that we would remove the park designation & sell or transfer the land to another entity"
Another part of the briefing package included suggested answers to anticipated questions MLAs might face about the parks being removed from the system.
This was the suggested answer to the question: "How will these changes affect my constituents?"
The anticipated questions also included one about whether any consultation had occurred about the parks being removed from the system.
This was the suggested response:
Another suggested response to questions about how this would affect tourism in Alberta said removing the parks from the system could "allow for and accommodate tourism development of types that are currently restricted by park designations."
All of which seems hard to square with today's statement from Alberta Environment and Parks:
"Alberta's parks are not, and have never been, for sale and it was never the plan to 'delist' parks."
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So I was on vacation the past couple of weeks and in & out of cell service. But every time I could, I checked in on the Alberta COVID numbers, and things seemed to be getting worse.
Here's what stood out to me...
No. 1: Cases (obviously) are on the rise ...
No. 2: The percentage of COVID-19 tests coming back positive in Alberta has also been on the rise:
No. 3: There are significant numbers of new cases is EVERY health zone. This is new.
This chart shows cases by zone since the beginning. See all the blue, orange, red, purple AND green at the far right?
That's the first time we've seen something like that in Alberta.
So BC Parks is asking non-BC residents to cancel camping reservations due to COVID-19. I just got a window into the administrative mess this has created.
After 1 hr 40 mins on the phone, my $360 in reservations are *partially* cancelled. Refund cheques to be mailed in 6-8 weeks.
Why only partially cancelled? Why cheques, plural? Why not a refund by credit card?
Apparently BC Parks changed its reservation system since last fall, which, according to the tired-sounding phone agent I spoke with at length, has created some ... issues.
I'd booked several campsites at Mount Robson / Berg Lake for a week-long trip. That meant multiple reservations. Each had to be cancelled separately. New system meant no credit-card refunds. So cheques are to be mailed for each one, by August or thereabouts.
Alberta ranks 9th in the world for COVID-19 testing per capita, just behind Switzerland and just ahead of Israel, according to this Wikipedia chart that mixes national & subnational jurisdictions: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COVID-19_…
USA meanwhile is near the bottom in this list, between Turkey & Vietnam: