A THREAT TO ALBERTA'S PARKS AND PUBLIC LANDS
Last December, the Government of Alberta passed Bill 35, turning the All-Season Resorts Act (ASRA) into legislation and exposing our parks to delisting and our public land to privatization. This was profoundly undemocratic and unethical, and we did not agree to it.
Alberta’s parks, protected areas, and public lands belong to ALL of us. Full stop.
We will not stand idly by while the ASRA strips us of the beloved places that belong to all of us — let's take action, together.
a world of benefits
Alberta's Parks
Help mitigate climate change and create resilient ecosystems and communities
Support biodiversity
Maintain healthy watersheds
Connect wildlife
Provide recreation activities
Photo Credit: Jordan Ubell
TAKE ACTION
Repeal the All-Season Resorts Act NOW
What does the All-Season Resorts Act (ASRA) do?
The proposed act exempts any tourism development in ‘all-season resort zones’ from the normal environmental land-use planning, review and approval processes applied to all other public land use activities, circumventing and undermining the Alberta Land Stewardship Act (ALSA) and the Environmental Protection and Enhancement Act (EPA).
Alarmingly, Bill 35 also makes it clear that the Minister of Tourism and Sport has the power to de-list and remove protected area designations in order to create All-Season Resort Zones.
This is an unprecedented transfer of land management powers to the Ministry of Tourism and Sport, which has never acted as a land manager, having neither the scope, experience, nor the capacity to do so.
"This could mean large-scale, commercial resort development — with year-round access and activity — in beloved spaces like Kananaskis Country, which Albertans seek out for connection to nature and quiet, sustainable opportunities for recreation."
— Katie Morrison, Executive Director
Tourism must support, not threaten, the very landscapes it relies upon.
Tourism development should be pursued as part of creating a sustainable, diversified provincial economy, which requires it to be implemented within a broader land management approach, and the land-use planning framework. This includes ensuring equitable, ecologically responsible access to recreation and tourism opportunities for current and future generations through long-term land management. However, this Act achieves none of this.
Instead, it:
- Contradicts long standing government policy and legislation, including the Kananaskis Country Recreation Policy, which was the result of robust public consultation that concluded Albertans’ desire for the future of Kananaskis to be about conservation, not large-scale commercial development.
- Flies in the face of recent public polling and survey responses for the development of a new Alberta Plan for Parks, which highlighted support for increased protected areas for conservation and low-impact recreation, not removing park status and increasing the risk of unsustainable development.
- Undermines the Alberta Land Stewardship Act (ALSA) and the Environmental Protection and Enhancement Act and the Natural Resources Conservation Board Act.
- Does not allow members of the public, stakeholders, or Indigenous Peoples to have a say in how and where All-Season Resorts are developed.
- Transfers land management to the Tourism and Sport Ministry, which has never been a land manager, and to staff in this Ministry who have no experience or expertise to carry out this role.
Let’s ensure a sustainable future for tourism, our economy, and our environment.
Sustainable tourism supports nature in Alberta because a healthy, regional-based tourism economy can generate revenue that can be reinvested in maintaining, improving, and even increasing our parks and protected areas.
Moreover, parks, protected areas, and public lands and waters pay their way (and then some) by providing ecosystem services that support all of our communities and industries, including tourism.
Paving Paradise with All-Season Resorts
Former Provincial Fish and Wildlife Biologist Lorne Fitch on the New Act
"Bill 35, the All Season Resorts Act, is... an answer to a question Albertans have never asked.
As such, the legislation is an insiders' game of plunking upscale hotels and facilities on public land, including Alberta Parks, irrespective of existing regional plans, protected areas or critical wildlife habitats.
[It's] a sneaky way to privatize our public lands."LEARN MORE
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