As the climate changes, parks will come to play an even more essential role in maintaining biodiversity and preventing extinction, acting as havens for species displaced or threatened by changing weather and rainfall patterns. If parks are to fulfil this crucial ecological function, as well as providing recreation opportunities for people, their protection must be strengthened and the encroaching privatisation stopped in its tracks.

There is no need to reinvent the wheel. We already have a blueprint for protecting parks -- the Parks Act. According to a report by lawyer Mark Haddock with West Coast Environmental Law, B.C.'s parks legislation is well thought-out and carefully crafted. "It is not a problem in the Parks Act that needs fixing. Rather, it needs to be complied with," Haddock noted in 2002. It is still true five years later.

What does upholding the Parks Act mean in practice? It means no logging, mining, drilling, heliports or hydro development. British Columbia’s world-famous park legacy was created for the preservation of land in its natural condition, and for the appreciation and enjoyment of nature by the public. 

Full compliance with the Parks Act should go also hand-in-hand with a reasonable budget for parks, one that would ensure trail maintenance, interpretive programs and a sufficient number of rangers. Even though B.C.’s parks and contribute almost $ 170 million to the provincial tax base, the operational budget for parks is only 33 million. Restoring the parks budget to a sustainable level would also make sense economically. B.C. parks are the backbone of our outdoor tourism industry, contributing almost $10 to local economies for every dollar our government invests.