Groups unite in Parks Canada fight

There is now a unified voice in the fight against Parks Canada’s motorized boat ban on Clear Lake.

Opponents have formed a working group to pressure Parks Canada to lift the ban and change the leadership at Riding Mountain National Park.

Members of the group include the Wasagaming Chamber of Commerce, the Clear Lake Country tourism organization, the Clear Lake Cottage Owners and Clear Lake Cabin Owners associations, and various other community stakeholders, including George Hartlen, CAO of Friends of Riding Mountain National Park.

“Right now, it’s just been everybody coming together, nobody has officially met yet,” said Hartlen, who is also a member of the Wasagaming Chamber of Commerce.

He said the group is developing a “game plan that will increase the communication between all organizations to meet the needs of all users.”

The idea of forming a group originated with the Clear Lake Cottage Owners Association, Randy Brydges, its president, told the Sun.

An email recently sent by the association’s executive to its members said there will be two goals for the group.

The first is to have the motorized boat ban reversed. The second is to create “a new deal for all stakeholders as to how RMNP is run and decisions made.”

On Thursday, the executive wrote to RMNP Supt. Leanne Cooper, requesting a number of action items that included reversing the motorized boat ban and allowing the Martese tour boat back on the lake.

The letter also asked her to “take the necessary steps to provide a significant change to your leadership and stewardship.”

Cooper could not be reached for comment.

On May 16, the start of the Victoria Day long weekend, Parks Canada announced that motorboats would be banned from the lake, reversing its January decision to allow them this summer under a “one-boat, one-lake” policy.

Only non-motorized watercraft are allowed on Clear Lake and outlying waterbodies for 2025 while the agency continues to study the spread of zebra mussels.

Since then, an online petition has been launched calling for the park to let motorized boats back on Clear Lake this summer. The petition, available on change.org, now has 2,372 signatures.

Cooper faced more than 200 people last Sunday in Onanole, during the cottage owners association’s annual spring meeting, and told the crowd the ban was her decision.

“Ultimately (it was) my decision,” Cooper said at the meeting, a recording of which was obtained by the Sun.

Cooper also told those in attendance that she was prevented from releasing information about the motorized boat ban sooner because of what’s called the caretaker convention. During a federal election, government departments are restricted as to information they can release, she said.

“We are legally not allowed to be communicating things that are highly controversial that could end up becoming an election issue, so we were unable to communicate any changes in decisions during that particular period. We had to wait until the new government was in place,” said Cooper.

“I would have liked to have been able to communicate things sooner, but that was situation that we’re in, and that’s what we needed to work with,” she said.

“I do know this is not a popular decision, and I know that lots of people are upset by the decision and don’t agree with it, that’s just the reality of the type of work that I do,” she added.

“So, I certainly appreciate your input, and as I said at this point, this is not a long-term decision. But recognizing that we can’t be doing this year by year, we do need a long-term decision. So that’s going to come after more input.”

Parks Canada did not directly answer the Sun about the accuracy of Cooper’s claims about the caretaker convention. Instead it sent a link to the Government of Canada’s guidelines on the conduct of ministers, ministers of state, exempt staff and public servants during an election.

“During the election period, departments should not launch new regulatory initiatives, or proactively engage stakeholders on regulatory development,” the section on regulations stated.

Many of those opposed to the ban have reached out to Riding Mountain MP Dan Mazier, who said he supports the aims of the working group.

“I’ve lost all confidence in Parks Canada, this is ridiculous,” the Conservative MP told the Sun in a phone interview Friday afternoon.

“They do what they want without any concern about what the impact will have on others, what it’ll have on families and on businesses. Their decisions are obviously made in an echo chamber that we’re not a part of.

“The communication is broken, and the buck stops with the superintendent,” he said.

Mazier has written two letters — one to Cooper, urging her to hold a public meeting, and the other to Environment and Climate Change Minister Julie Dabrusin. Echoing the working group’s demands, he is urging Dabrusin to reverse the boat ban and assign new leadership to RMNP.

» mmcdougall@brandonsun.com

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