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Alberta Wants National Park Fees To Stay In Province

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By NPT Staff - November 21st, 2022
Banff Avenue is in the town of Banff within Banff National Park.

Banff Avenue is in the town of Banff within Banff National Park/Parks Canada, B. Wrobleski

Alberta’s newly appointed premier wants money handed over to national parks in Alberta to stay in Alberta.

Danielle Smith laid out the request in a Nov. 9 mandate letter to Todd Loewen, the new Forestry, Parks and Tourism minister, saying she expected him to “initiate discussions with federal counterparts to ensure all of the fees generated from Alberta national parks remain in Alberta to improve infrastructure and amenities in the parks.”

Alberta has five national parks that are funded and operated federally — Banff National Park, Jasper National Park, Elk Island National Park, Waterton Lakes National Park and Wood Buffalo National Park (which spans the Alberta/Northwest Territories border). The province also has more than a dozen national historic sites, which were not mentioned in Smith’s letter.

Smith was appointed premier in October after winning the United Conservative Party (UCP) leadership election that was called after Jason Kenney resigned.

Banff is the Canada’s most visited national park with 3.6 million visitors in 2021. Jasper came second with 2.1 million.

Parks Canada collects visitor fees through day passes and annual Discovery Passes that provide unlimited access to more than 80 locations across the country. Single-location passes are only available for Waterton and Elk Island plus two of Alberta’s historic sites.

Visitor fees account for about 25 per cent of the cash it takes to run national parks while federal funding makes up the other 75 per cent.

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