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Ball questions government's support for Gros Morne Management plan March 26 , 2007
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Dwight Ball, MHA for the District of Humber Valley, is questioning whether the provincial government supports the establishment of a park management plan in Gros Morne National Park that will restrict snowmobiling to less than 10 per cent of the park. Ball raised the issue in the House of Assembly this afternoon. In 1973, an agreement was negotiated between the federal and provincial governments to develop the Gros Morne area as a national park. Since that time, snowmobiling has been a permitted activity that has been enjoyed by thousands of residents and tourists in this province. Unfortunately, a park management plan is now being developed that would restrict snowmobiling to less than 10 per cent of the park, even though Parks Canada has found no evidence that snowmobiling is causing any damage to the area. AThe province is one of the signatories of this plan and, after listening to the responses of the Minister of Tourism, Culture and Recreation this afternoon, it appears the provincial government is supporting the decision to place restrictions on recreational snowmobilers and tourism operators in this area,@ said Mr. Ball. AThe Deer Lake area was just designated the Snowmobile Hub for the province and Gros Morne Park is one of the key destinations. The minister himself recently released a winter tourism guide that encouraged snowmobiling as a key activity to promote winter tourism in the province. If implemented, the park management plan will hurt the snowmobiling industry in our region.@ Ball noted that not only does Parks Canada want to restrict the area for snowmobiling, it also wants to cap the number of people who can use the park. A permit system has been proposed that will only allow a certain number of people to access the park for snowmobile activities. AIf we are to encourage and protect winter tourism in this province, why would government support the removal of snowmobiler rights in this area, especially when there is no evidence to support such a move? The Humber Valley and Gros Morne regions are very unique to our province and I believe we should encourage tourism activities in these areas and look for opportunities to grow this sector of our economy.@
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