28 Jan Protecting Sable – III

A former Parks Canada employee sends this comment on the prospects for Sable if Harper Environment Minister Jim Prentice succeeds in making it a National Park:

I continue to have a great affection for this institution and its objectives… In my time I worked in the parks themselves, at Head Office in Ottawa, and at the regional offices.  All levels are influenced by the conflicting desires to both protect, and to show what has been protected.

Unfortunately, with money for expenditures somehow ever flowing, and with government’s obsession with “show and tell” as the chosen means of bringing good fortune to themselves, advancement-seeking civil servants and advantage-seeking politicians (usually with little or no sense of history)  will inevitably leave their heavy footprints on the very land they were mandated to protect.

Sadly therefore, from experience, I must, at least until National Parks Objectives are significantly revised to enhance their protection mandate, agree with you. Don’t let the bastards near Sable Island. All your negative predictions should they come are very realistic!  Witness the dividing into thirds of Rustico Island in PEI National Park, the creaping evolution of a long planned for (by various political parties and park staff) Olympic-type village at Lake Louise, and so on, and so on!! ‘Tis sad to say, but the Park Systems of Canada are not ready for Sable Island.

I have received several thoughtful comments, and will post more tomorrow.