Editorials

Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION

Weak thinking

By: Staff Writer

Posted: 02/1/2012 1:00 AM | Comments: 0 (including replies)

Parks Canada was to have announced on Tuesday a U.S. company would build a spectacular tourism site on a mountain slope in Jasper National Park, but the decision was postponed following the instinctive negative reaction by some activists to anything American or corporate.

Brewster Travel Canada, which has provided services in Banff National Park since 1892, wants to redevelop a roadside viewpoint into a commercially operated interpretive trail and viewing platform along the Icefields Parkway. Parks Canada backs the project, saying it would "provide visitors with quality experiences and learning opportunities," as well as allow them to connect with the area's ecological and cultural heritage.

The proposed redesign would eliminate a blind corner and improve area safety for motorists, pedestrians and wildlife, Parks Canada says. It would improve greatly on the parking lot that has existed at the site for 80 years.

And yet, despite all the evidence in its favour, an online international activist group, Avaaz.org., collected nearly 180,000 signatures in a petition to "Save Jasper National Park." Other groups have also joined the opposition, including federal Green party Leader Elizabeth May.

Among other things, they are opposed to what they call the privatization of the park by an American corporation. It's a powerful and familiar rallying cry, but one that is also devoid of facts or logical argument.

The land would remain in public hands and the development is no different than the hotels, restaurants and other commercial amenities in the park today. In fact, the viewing area would be even less intrusive.

As the Canada West Foundation has stated, the knee-jerk opposition is just the latest example of how fear-mongering and mindless ideology have replaced critical thought and evidence-based analysis in public-policy debates today.

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition February 1, 2012 A10

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