Documents reveal doubts on Alberta plans to close, deregulate parks

Top advisers to Alberta's environment minister werecautious about the government's plans to shrink the province's parkssystem and made recommendations he didn't follow.

An access-to-information request by the Canadian Parks andWilderness Society asked for correspondence, briefing notes andemails between Jason Nixon and senior civil servants in hisdepartment. They cover January through March of this year.

Nixon announced in March that the United Conservative governmentplans to fully or partially close 20 provincial parks and hand offanother 164 to third-party managers. Sites for which no managers canbe found are to lose park status and revert to general Crown land.

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Nixon has promised no park land will be sold.The briefing notes show that as recently as last December, park sell-offs were at least considered. Possibilities for small day-useareas included "lease/sell to an external body."

Another page refers to the option to "remove facilities andrevert to vacant public land [or sale in the white zone]."

The white zone refers to the province's agricultural area.Nixon's department has already sold an unprotected patch of nativegrassland in southern Alberta for potato farming.

Alberta Environment and Parks did not respond to several requestsfor comment on the documents.

The minister has said the parks decision was made to save money,but notes marked "confidential, advice to minister" suggestachieving that is unlikely.

"Our experience suggests divestment comes with a price tag (i.e. capital grant/operating subsidy)," they say.The department has never released a figure for how much shrinkingthe park system -- referred to in the documents as "weeding out thechaff" -- would save. Nor do the notes provide one.

The documents also show that Nixon ignored advice to consult thepublic. High-level department officials in December recommendedthat there be two sets of consultations -- a "broad, high-levelconsultation/engagement" followed by a second phase for specificsites.

A later update advising cabinet says: "As recommended by (theminister's office) and communications, recommended option is to notdo consultation." No explanation is given.

The duty to consult with Indigenous people is referred to as "avery live question."

Nixon has previously told The Canadian Press that no consultationwas necessary because the party's intentions were in its 2019election platform. In 114 pages, there is one vague sentence onparks policy.

During and before the campaign, Nixon criticized the NewDemocrats for not consulting enough on parks. The briefing notes also show that Nixon was warned that gettingrid of parks might conflict with other goals. He was told there was a risk the changes wouldn't "make sense or align with broader system outcomes."

Bureaucrats noted that Alberta Environment has been trying topromote recreational fishing. They called park closures a"potential misalignment."

"Decisions could impact (the department's) ability to enhancefishing, if parks are closed/divested ... Magnitude of (the) impact(is) currently unknown." Nixon has suggested the parks slated for closure are rarelyvisited.

Parks should fit ministry goals

The documents contain no information on visitation, although theaccess request asked for criteria used to select parks for closure.The files refer to getting rid of the parks as an economicdevelopment opportunity. Parks should fit within government andministry goals: "financial sustainability, engage in partnerships,enable economic opportunities, reduce stakeholder irritants."

The documents describe a shift in how Alberta manages its wildspaces. Some are to be managed by Alberta Parks as provincial"Crown jewels," while the rest are to be deregulated and managedby the department's Lands Division.

It's suggested that change could be phased in to give the publictime to get used to it."[It]could even phase that in so ... [the]public doesn't seemassive re-organization AND massive deregulation at once."

Chris Smith of the wilderness society says the briefing notesfail to spell out a rational reason for the parks changes. "It does seem to be more of an ideological decision with theveneer of fiscal prudence, he said."

Smith points out the documents say that implementing the planwill take five years.

"There's definitely opportunity for the government to slow downon this and walk back a bit and have a discussion," he said. "Wejust want them to be honest about what they're doing."