Parks Canada employees in Banff, Yoho and Kootenay national parks appear to be in the midst of an unprecedented communication lockdown during the current federal election campaign.
Since the Oct. 19 election was called, Parks employees have not been made available to media, including the Outlook, for interviews on a host of issues, from routine matters like rescues to matters of public safety such as wolves killing a deer in the Banff townsite.
David Stewart, a political science professor at the University of Calgary, said under the Caretaker Convention, which governs government operations during an election, the bureaucracy of government should be able to function, noting this is an 11-week campaign.
“They should be able to respond to public requests for information, and the public gets its information through the media, and when that’s not happening, that’s a problem,” he said.
“There is no reasonable explanation for failure to communicate on basic issues relating to the portfolio of the department,” added Stewart.
“The public is losing an opportunity to be informed of issues of concern and relevance. The activities of government departments cannot come to a halt because of an election campaign.”
Under the Caretaker Convention, the government acts with restraint during an election, confining itself to necessary public business, either routine or urgent, and public resources must not be used for partisan advantage.
In short, the protocol says during an election, a government should restrict itself to activities that are routine, non-controversial, urgent and in the public interest.
“It can and should do so where the matter is routine and necessary for the conduct of government business, or where it is urgent and in the public interest,” according to the Caretaker Convention.
Like other government departments, there has been tighter control on Parks Canada’s media protocols in recent years, where almost all media requests get funneled through a cumbersome approval process through head office in Ottawa.
There have been many occasions where interviews are not granted on controversial issues, but Parks experts are typically allowed to speak on routine operational matters like rescues and wildlife occurrences. The clampdown has become even tighter since the writ was dropped.
The media was not told of the incident of wolves killing a deer in a residential Banff neighbourhood until almost a week after it occurred, providing no opportunity to alert and educate the public in a timely manner. Two wolves were seen dragging a deer down Cougar Street on Aug. 11.
At about the same time, a black bear cub was killed on the railway tracks in Banff National Parks on Aug. 12. Again, that information was not provided until well after the incident occurred.
Bear mortality on the railway line has been of great interest to the public, particularly given the ongoing Canadian Pacific Railway-Parks Canada joint action plan to try to reduce bear deaths on the tracks,
In both wildlife cases, there were emailed statements with minimal details.
On the day before the election, the government announced funding for transit in Lake Louise, but provided no details on the dollar amount or the plan. The Outlook was told there would be no details provided until after the federal election.
On the weekend, public safety specialists were called to rescue scramblers, but the agency provided no details or a spokesperson. One of the few exceptions where an interview has been granted was on the Snarl Peak wildfire.
Stewart said Parks Canada is being too broad in its interpretation of the convention.
“I have never heard of anything of like this,” said Stewart. “Failure to even communicate on issues like rescue and safety is really beyond the pale.”
Stewart said he believes the bigger question at play is where and by whom this decision on the communication clampdown has been made.
“It would be very important where that decision was made, and on whose advice,” he said.
“I think this is consistent with some of the issues that have been raised with the Harper government, dealing with scientists, so it’s possible that is putting a chill on activities of departments.”
Parks Canada did not get back to the Outlook on this issue by deadline.
Blake Richards, the incumbent Conservative MP for the Banff-Airdrie riding, declined to comment, and Joanne Boissonneault, NDP candidate, did not get back to the Outlook by press time.
Marlo Raynolds, the Liberal candidate for Banff-Airdrie, said public safety and routine matters should be able to be reported to the public.
“It would be like the RCMP being no longer able to report on incidents. What if there’s an at-risk bear in a popular townsite, would Parks not be able to make that public? Where are the boundaries?” he said.
“In an 11-week election, a lot of things will happen in our backyard. On operational issues, there’s very well trained spokespeople and they should be able to speak to that. We clearly understand on policy and budget we do not want politicization of any civil servant.”
Mike MacDonald, this riding’s Green Party candidate, said the communications clampdown is yet another example of centralized control.
“This is the stuff that Stephen Harper campaigned on 10 years ago that he claimed he was going to Ottawa to rectify. This kind of controlling of public discourse is decidedly un-Canadian and undemocratic,” he said.
“Mr. Harper is so afraid people are going to say something negative that will affect his campaign, he’s having them not speak. That’s disturbing.”
