By Adam Ophus

NDP Plans on life support

Bighorn proposal will not go through, says new Environment and Parks Minister

May 3, 2019 | 4:58 PM

The former NDP government’s $40 million Bighorn proposal will be going up in smoke, according to Jason Nixon, who was recently appointed to the Environment and Parks portfolio.

The plan was to refurbish 240 existing campsites and construct 150 new campsites with parking lots, trails and staging areas. The funding would have been spread over five years.

Nixon says he always strongly opposed the plan.

“The United Conservative Party and the opposition was clear the Bighorn proposal that the NDP brought forward had serious flaws and was not acceptable to the community,” Nixon says.

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“We had committed to reversing it if the NDP had forced it through, and fortunately the NDP did not force it through, and so we will not be moving forward with the NDP’s Bighorn Plan.”

However, Nixon adds that the UCP still intends to care for and protect the Bighorn area in a more inclusive and economic way.

“What we have heard very clear during this process was the need to invest in things like enforcement and to work with the great non-profits and stakeholder groups that are already in the area, for example, off-highway vehicle clubs, hiking clubs and many other stakeholder groups that have done such amazing work back there on conservation,” he says.

“Our focus and platform is working to get resources to those organizations and partnering with them to get more enforcement in those areas. But we see the government’s role as partnering with these stakeholder groups which are already in existence and then we can continue to manage one of the most pristine areas in the world.”

The NDP most recently held in-person public consultations on their proposal in February.