Provincial funds are on hold for multi-million dollar repairs to flood-damaged Kananaskis Country golf course, while a review is underway to ensure the money being spent is in the best public interest.
Banff-Cochrane MLA Ron Casey said no additional funds would be released from the $18 million allocated to the golf course until an evaluation by an independent body has been completed.
“The review will be broken down into two parts,” said Casey. “Review of the current agreements to ensure they are in the publics interest, or that the interest is protected, and develop an alternative business model that will not require the province to be involved in ownership of the golf course.”
In July 2014, the provincial government announced the multi-million dollar initiative – of which approximately $5.4 million has already been spent – to restore the water- and debris-devastated 36-hole facility. However, in that time, the oil-rich province has undergone harsh fiscal times where the price of oil has dropped from $100 per barrel to $43, and the province faces a $7 billion deficit in the 2015 budget.
But a $10 million funding approval this month for the course was met with criticism by the opposition to Jim Prentice’s PC government. Provincial funding priorities were questioned; such as Albertans who were offset by the floods still being in need of Disaster Recovery Plan funds. In Exshaw, 74 of 86 applications for the DRP have received a total of approximately $540,000.
A point brought forward by the PC government was the positive economic effect the course has on the community.
The 36-hole Kananaskis golf course staffed approximately 150 employees during the season and has been shut down since the day of the floods nearly two years ago.
Kananaskis club General Manager Darren Robinson said it was “a breath of fresh air” when the government announced funding last year. Now, less than a year later and facing uncertainty, he can’t help but feel deflated about the review, which may yank the funds right out from underneath an “anchor of the community.
“The immediate feeling is uneasiness,” said Robinson.
“When you go through something of that scale and your life is turned upside down for many of us who were directly affected by the floods, it was a difficult stretch of time and our community here in Kananaskis was hit very hard by that. Not only the 150 people losing employment, but a spin over to the other businesses.”
The course drew about 60,000 golfers annually and over the two years since it was forced to close the greens, the economic effects have been felt throughout the Bow Valley, said Andrew Nickerson, president and chief executive officer at Canmore Business and Tourism.
“We’ve spoken to a number of the (Canmore) hotels who said they’re missing chunks of business (as a result) and then, of course, there are businesses themselves down in the Kananaskis valley,” Nickerson said.
As a “key component” and “major economic stimulus” in the valley, Nickerson said with the province investing in the golf course, it would send a positive message to other businesses that the Kananaskis valley is a strong tourism destination.
“We’re very hopeful the course is going to go ahead as planned. We do see it being a very strong part of our local infrastructure,” he said.
During a March 16 Alberta Hansard meeting, Minister of Environment and Sustainable Resource and Development Kyle Fawcett said the K-Country golf course creates $1.5 million in taxes annually.
