Bill 35, the All Season Resorts Act, is proposed by the UCP government as 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.

This Bill has been modelled after Tolkien’s “One ring to rule them all.” The Minister of Tourism and Sport can arbitrarily exempt a resort proposal from any existing protective legislation, fast track a proposal without any public consultation or input and shield the development from review by the Natural Resources Conservation Board. That is a substantial bit of power entrusted to a department (and a minister) with no experience or expertise in land-use planning, including environmental impact assessments.

Added to this, the Bill exempts development on all season resort areas from the normal environmental planning, reviewing and permitting process normally applied to activities on public lands. What possibly could go wrong with headwaters water quality and quantity, species at risk habitats, wildfire prevention and more human traffic with such a cavalier attitude?

There is no provision for consultation with Indigenous Peoples, affected communities or existing tourism-focused activities.

Albertans have become used to the somewhat sacred nature of our parks and protected areas. It was not long ago this same government tried to deconsecrate many of them in an ill advised and thinly veiled attempt at cost saving. It seems this government is a slow learner on how Albertans view their public lands.

This ill conceived idea of upscale “resorts” in the heart of existing recreational areas for Albertans creates a question of who the marketing targets are for these developments. For Albertans? Hardly!

This endeavour to bring more people into some of our more scenic landscapes also fails to recognize we are surely on a path to love these places to death. The places where business interests will want to build five star hotels isn’t vacant space. Far from it.

Those giving us Bill 35 and spectre of resort developments seem oblivious to the existing and future recreational (and other land use) pressures in the Eastern Slopes. It’s hard to see clearly when there are loonies over your eyes. A government funded study by the Tourism Industry Association of Alberta (2021) had six recommendations about growing recreation, but made no mention of how to manage growth to protect ecological values or how to maintain recreational quality. We have yet to learn that more is not better, yet here we are with this Bill.

Bill 35 is a sneaky way to privatize our public lands. The UCP government seems fixated on paving paradise in Alberta with this single minded push to allow the building of all season resorts on what is our cherished public lands. Really!?

Lorne Fitch is a Professional Biologist, a retired Fish and Wildlife Biologist and a former Adjunct Professor with the University of Calgary. He is the author of Streams of Consequence and Travels Up the Creek: A Biologist’s Search For a Paddle.

Photo Credit: Amber Toner