Federal government invests $29 million into Prince Albert National Park

Declared a national park in 1927, Prince Albert National Park spans over 3,874 square kilometres and is home to Waskesiu Lake and historic sites such as the Grey Owl’s Cabin. The park welcomes over 200,000 visitors every year.

“We have to maintain that history but one of the things you have to do is also invest in infrastructure to keep that history going so people can come here and use the facilities and that’s what the governments trying to do,” Clark said.

The $29-million investment will be dispersed among various major projects.

Repaving, guardrail replacement, and slope stabilization of Highway 263 will take up the majority of the investment to the tune of $15.3 million. Approximately 18 kilometres of the 50 kilometres of the highway will be repaved within the next two years.

Other infrastructure upgrades include road and marine asset rehabilitation at Waskesiu Lake Marina ($7.4 million), Grey Owl Site rehabilitation ($3 million), and wastewater force main rehabilitation ($1.5 million).

The investment represents the largest federal infrastructure plan in the 104-year history of Parks Canada and is part of the $5.8-billion infrastructure commitment made by the federal government last year.

Investments have been put into other national parks across the country. This particular investment included details for the first two years of a five year program for Prince Albert National Park. The park will have opportunities to submit for more funding after the initial two years.

Alan Fehr of Parks Canada says the upgrades will be focused on enhancing the experience of park goers.

“When people are staying in Waskesiu and are staying at the beach or are wanting to get out, they can take a bike, or hike, or run straight out of Waskesiu and have some good positive experiences on trails,” he said.

“All jurisdictions in Canada are always struggling to look after infrastructure. What this does is allow us to accelerate it. Rather than do a bunch of work over 10-15 years, we can do some work over five years.”

Diane Porter has been visiting Waskesiu her entire life and says a facelift would be appreciated.

“It’s always been the same … a little bit of injection of money to get some newness is really important,” said Porter. “I think it’s great. We have a real gift in our country to have out national parks and we need to look after them – keep them as natural and new as possible.”

“The park is going to look fantastic,” said Fehr.

“We’ll have new and revitalized trails. The campgrounds will be in top shape. The roads are going to be in good shape. The marina is going to be good. It’s going to look like the park is ready for the next 10 years and it’s going to be looking really sharp.”

knguyen@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @khangvnguyen

by Khang Nguyen

Federal government invests $29 million into Prince Albert National Park

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