Feds helping Waskesiu recover from 2013 flash flood

The money has been in place since last year, and work is underway at present. The slump is largely repaired while the roadwork is in progress and set to finish up this summer.

“For the national parks, our budgets are finite. And we have a lot of aging infrastructure so we tend to defer work until, you know, we get the money. We look for money,” Dunne said.

There is historical value to two of those projects. First, Highway 263 “follows much of the original road from back in the day when the park was established,” Dunn said.

Not only is the Nature Centre a designated federal heritage building, “It was built by relief workers in the 30s, and has housed interpretive displays, exhibits” and more since then, she explained.

She said park staff does have a ‘wish list’ of things that need work but don’t fit into their limited budget.

Prince Albert National Park is no stranger to financial difficulties. Back in 2012, the federal government announced it would no longer be maintaining ski trails due to budget cuts. Volunteers are now doing that work.

At the end of February, opponents to the cuts had a chance to reiterate their concerns with the two-year-old issue, when Prime Minister Stephen Harper drove a snowmobile near Quebec City to highlight millions in equipment grants given to private clubs.

Clarke didn’t speak to that specific issue, instead saying that the focus in national parks should be on activities like snowshoeing and cross country skiing rather than snowmobiling.

Winter services began to disappear in parks across Canada in 2012 as the agency started imposing deep spending cuts that have since left Parks Canada with a budget $27 million lighter than the $652-million envelope forecast in 2012-13.

The timing of announcing the $3.21 million – with $270,000 going towards the sloping issue near the Nature Centre, $220,000 to Highway 263 and $2.7 million to Cookson Road – for work that’s already underway, comes during an election year.

When asked about the timing of the announcement, Clarke said “ what you’re seeing is the federal government going out and announcing these projects and you’re seeing work being undertaken. But it’s good for the Canadians to know how their tax dollars are being utilized, especially in the national parks.”

With files from Jennifer Ditchburn, the Canadian Press

claskowski@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @chelsealaskowsk

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Post by Waskesiu Recreation Association (Chamber of Commerce).

by Chelsea Laskowski

Feds helping Waskesiu recover from 2013 flash flood

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