Banff National Park, along with many other operations under the Parks Canada umbrella, will soon suffer the effects of the slashing of hundreds of jobs, nationwide.
Would turmoil be too strong a term to use in describing the present situation for Parks Canada?
On the one hand, Parks has been tasked with increasing visitation by two per cent each year – and now, as it turns out, they are to do that with 638 positions axed and another 1,051 ‘affected’, as in adversely affected, due to restriction of hours, etc.
Here in BNP, a dozen jobs will be chopped while 22 have been deemed surplus, with 10 positions being vacated voluntarily.
All the job slashing, it seems, is part of a federal bureaucracy hackfest of 19,000 positions which is to result in the savings of $5.2 billion.
It’s interesting, then, on the other hand, that at the same time as jobs are being slashed, it’s been decided to turn over the operation of Parks hot springs facilities to private interests.
So, while job cuts are necessary to save money, according to the Harper Conservatives, no doubt meaning in Banff National Park as well, in the feds’ wisdom, it’s now time to privatize the Upper Hot Springs which draw 350,000 visitors a year.
Being that the Upper Hot Springs is one of the most likely attractions to turn a profit, one wonders why they are designated for dispatch, bureaucratically speaking?
With the pressure of helping ensure Banff’s visitation increases by two per cent each year, what happens if a private contractor doesn’t match or better that 350,000 per year? Or will a private operator not have to fall under the same pressure as actual Parks staff? Will paying private staff less and cutting back on hours and services where necessary allow a contractor to flourish where Parks couldn’t?
It’s interesting that the Upper Hot Springs, which is a major attraction for paying customers, is being put up for grabs while the Cave and Basin, which doesn’t have the same cash flow, is not.
As a major visitor attraction for Banff National Park and the Banff townsite alike, not to mention an iconic and historical resource, it will be interesting to see what kind of price tag is attached to bidding on hot springs operations.
Being that special events of all kinds seem to be what is being embraced these days for national parks, maybe a slick zipline could be placed to run above the hot springs as an added attraction. Maybe a world’s longest hot springs soaking championship can be held as a special event. Possibly hang gliders can be directed to float over the springs as a more visual attraction. Hot water bobbing for pine cones?
It’s nice that officials are saying all the right things – that visitation is being looked at… when people are showing up in Banff… not wavering from protection of resources… but one wonders if cutbacks and privatization is simply the realization that belts weren’t properly tightened under the guidance of Parks personnel?
If that’s the case, why weren’t steps taken across the country by those in charge, beforehand, to avoid cuts?
Maybe all the dollars slashed from Parks can be used to keep the Conservatives’ multi-billion dollar F-35 next generation fighter plane purchase fiasco on the books (hopefully, the hot springs privatization tender situation won’t follow a similar non-process).
Or, maybe in the name of Canadian sovereignty, the billions saved can be sunk, if you will, into keeping the jetsam/flotsam that is the four submarines the feds purchased (were suckered into?) from the U.K. for $750 million in 1998 operational. Thus far, according to a recent report, in the 13 years the subs have been all ours, they’ve spent less than three years at sea – while having billions poured into re-fits. They may get to the arctic yet.
