December 10, 2010

Calgary, Alberta – Alberta’s provincial parks and surrounding rural communities will benefit from a joint investment by the governments of Canada and Alberta towards enhancing park amenities and improving access for visitors.

Lee Richardson, Member of Parliament for Calgary Centre, on behalf of the Honourable Lynne Yelich, Minister of State for Western Economic Diversification, together with Cindy Ady, Minister of Alberta Tourism, Parks and Recreation, announced a federal-provincial investment of $10 million towards the initiative. The governments of Canada and Alberta have each committed $5 million for parks improvement projects taking place between 2009 and 2011.

“Our Government recognizes that parks play an important role in attracting visitors to our communities,” said Lee Richardson, MP.  “This exciting project will create immediate jobs across Alberta, while boosting local economies for the long term.”

Improving amenities at numerous provincial parks includes repairing and upgrading hiking trails, refurbishing campsites, hazardous tree removal, replacing picnic tables and fire pits, and enhancing viewpoints. In addition, Alberta’s online campground reservation system, Reserve.AlbertaParks.ca, has been expanded with photographs and detailed mapping of campsites at 25 more provincial campgrounds in 2010.

“Working with the federal government, we have been able to leverage additional investment in more than 200 projects across Alberta,” said Cindy Ady, Minister of Alberta Tourism, Parks and Recreation. “With this investment and partnership, we are able to further expand Reserve.AlbertaParks.ca by adding two additional campgrounds in 2011.”

In February 2011, online reservations will be available at 52 provincial campgrounds, including two new locations at Little Bow Provincial Park, near Lethbridge and Mount Kidd R.V. Park in Kananaskis.

The initiative is generating immediate employment opportunities while enhancing the appeal of the Alberta parks system and streamlining the campground reservation process for local, national and international visitors. Increased tourism is also expected to create long-term economic benefits for local communities and businesses. Alberta Tourism, Parks and Recreation will oversee the project activities.

Since 2004, the Government of Alberta has invested more than $250 million in park facilities and infrastructure. More information on the Alberta parks system is available at www.albertaparks.ca.

Federal funding is being provided through the Community Adjustment Fund (CAF) as part of Canada’s Economic Action Plan. CAF is delivering a total of $1 billion over two years to local economies throughout Canada, including more than $104 million to support the most affected Alberta communities. For more information on the Community Adjustment Fund, please visit: www.wd-deo.gc.ca. To learn more about Canada’s Economic Action Plan, visit: www.actionplan.gc.ca.

The Following is a speech delivered by Lee Richardson, MP at the announcment of increased funding for Albert Parks.
Honoured guests, ladies and gentlemen, good morning.
It is a pleasure to be here today on behalf of the Government of Canada and my colleague, the Honourable Lynne Yelich, Minister of State for Western Economic Diversification.
To begin, I would like to thank my fellow platform guest:
The Honourable Cindy Ady, Minister of Alberta Tourism, Parks and Recreation;
Through Canada’s Economic Action Plan, the Government of Canada took decisive steps to protect incomes, create jobs, ease credit markets, and help workers and communities get back on their feet.

Rising to the challenge of the worst economic downturn in half a century, everyone has worked together to help ensure a speedy, robust and durable recovery.

Communities and industries most affected by the downturn are being supported and businesses have begun hiring again, with the economy adding more than 420,000 net new jobs since July 2009.
One of the programs included in our plan, the Community Adjustment Fund, also known as CAF, is one measure that is helping communities across the West to prosper.
CAF is a two-year economic stimulus program designed to create jobs and maintain employment in communities across Canada.
The fund supports communities right here in Western Canada, giving priority to rural, single-industry communities that are reliant on resource based industries and tourism.
It is providing a short-term response that is helping to maintain Canada’s economic strength by creating and maintaining jobs right now, in
Today, I am pleased to announce the Government of Canada is investing $5 million under CAF to enhance Alberta’s rural provincial parks and stimulate local economies.
We recognize that provincial parks play an important role in attracting visitors to our rural communities and creating economic opportunities for local businesses.
With today’s investment, camp stalls will be refurbished, hiking trails will be upgraded and repaired, and viewpoints will be enhanced at numerous parks throughout rural Alberta.
Visitors also stand to benefit from an expanded online campsite reservation system that includes photographs and a geospatial inventory of campsites.
In addition to creating short-term employment, this initiative helps to further promote tourism and long-term economic development by significantly improving the appeal and accessibility of Alberta’s provincial parks for local, national and international visitors.
These investments will help see us through the global recession and will lay the foundation for economic growth and future prosperity for many years to come.
This project is just one of many western Canadian initiatives receiving support under CAF.
As of the beginning of December, approximately $800 million in CAF funding has been committed to projects across the country and almost 1,000 individual projects are now underway or completed.
And while Canada is already showing signs of recovery, the recovery is fragile.
Budget 2010 aims to contribute to this recovery and sustain Canada’s economic advantage now and for the future.

That’s why we are going to complete the roll-out of our Economic Action Plan, return the federal budget to balance once the economy has recovered, and build the economy of the future.
The Government of Canada will continue working with the West to help strengthen all our communities, to remain strong, healthy and resilient for generations to come.
Today’s announcement is about building a better future.
And I am confident that investments such as these will help ensure the West remains strong, because a stronger West means a stronger Canada.
Thank you.