‘Completely blindsided us’

Cottagers and business owners are angry after Parks Canada flip-flopped and announced a motorized boat ban on Clear Lake this summer to help prevent the spread of zebra mussels.

Parks Canada said Friday it made the “difficult decision” to restrict the use of motorized watercraft in the Riding Mountain National Park lake in 2025.

“This approach is a continuation of Parks Canada’s attempts to reduce zebra mussel spread in Clear Lake and the potential damage that may be caused to downstream water bodies and related infrastructure,” the government agency said in a bulletin.

The federal government said in January watercraft, including motorized vessels, would be permitted, as long as they were only used in Clear Lake. That edict was reversed Friday.

People are allowed to use non-motorized watercraft — including kayaks and canoes — provided they have an annual permit for use only on Clear Lake or other bodies of water in Riding Mountain National Park. The bulletin said all non-motorized watercraft, fishing equipment, wetsuits and inflatables would have to be inspected.

The lake was closed to all watercraft in the summer of 2024.

In January, the federal government announced a ‘one boat, one lake’ policy for Clear Lake, the same policy that was adopted in 2023.

Parks Canada said at the time that decision was made after determining it was no longer feasible to attempt to eradicate zebra mussels because they had spread past the lake’s marina.

The policy change prompted anger Friday.

Kelsey Connor, president of the Clear Lake Marina, which offers boat rentals and cruises on the Martese ship, said Parks Canada told him about the reversal an hour before the public release went out.

“This news has completely blindsided us,” he said. “We were planning to open our business in the coming days. We’ve hired dozens of excited, eager staff for the summer, made bookings and reservations for families and groups on the Martese, and spent significant sums of capital preparing to reopen the business for 2025.”

Connor said his company lost money when the lake was closed in 2024, and they were hoping to bounce back this year.

“Parks Canada managers and staff have straight up lied to and misled me over the phone, face to face, and eye to eye leading up to this announcement,” he said.

“No warning. No heads up. No reasoning. Now what… I must ruminate on this until Tuesday when Parks Canada staff are back at work. I sure hope that they have a great long weekend. Frankly, I’m disgusted with the Parks Canada organization and those who conduct it.”

A local Parks Canada official referred questions to officials in Ottawa. No one from Ottawa responded before deadline.

Tory MP Dan Mazier, who represents the Riding Mountain riding, which includes the park, called the decision unacceptable.

“Earlier this year, Parks Canada indicated the ban would be lifted, yet now, with no warning or clear explanation, they’ve reversed course during one of the busiest weekends of the year…. the constant flip-flopping has created chaos and deep uncertainty in a community that deserves timely answers — not surprise announcements buried on a holiday weekend,” Mazier said in a statement.

Mazier vowed to bring the matter up with newly appointed federal Environment and Climate Change Minister Julie Dabrusin.

Cottager David Bastable said he held off paying thousands of dollars to buy a boat until Parks Canada announced motorized watercraft would be allowed this summer.

“They said one boat, one lake and literally the next week I bought the boat,” Bastable said. “We were so excited. The kids couldn’t even use the kayaks and paddleboat we bought last year.

“I probably spent six grand on accessories alone to go with the boat, including insurance for the boat and the trailer, and then they changed their decision. Now I’m wondering if I’m going to sell the boat. It is so ridiculous — the zebra mussels are already in the lake.”

Bastable blames Parks Canada for helping to spread zebra mussels last summer because, at first it told people they could swim and use flotation devices only around the marina — where the aquatic pests were first found — before telling people that was the only place they couldn’t use them.

“So people ended up going all over the lake. This couldn’t have been managed worse.”

Another cottager, Kyle Bazylo, said he doesn’t own a boat, but he empathizes with people who do.

“People last year with boats didn’t even come back to their cottages last year,” Bazylo said. “People thought this year it would be back to normal, but it isn’t.

“It was disappointing last year, but at least we knew what was happening so we adapted to it, but this has come at the last minute… between last year and now this, you lose complete faith in the park and the government.”

Parks Canada had said it engaged with stakeholders, Indigenous partners and the public on how to best manage water activities at Clear Lake in 2025.

kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.ca