sheilassillyseason

It's Sheila's silly season
By RICK BELL -- Calgary Sun--February 4, 2001
The silly soldiers of Sheila Copps are at it again.
They meddle. They pry. They create mountains where no molehills exist.
They make rules they can then enforce to justify their own existence.
Yes, why not make events in Banff National Park now fork out thousands to do environmental assessment reports for Sheila's Parks Canada paper shufflers?
Then, with the added tab taken out on the already overburdened shoulders of volunteer event organizers, these events might shut down and go away. We wouldn't want people to actually use the park, would we?
Come back with me in time. Five years ago, the Parliament of Canada, duly elected by Ontario, passed a very important sounding law.
It was named the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act and set out all you never wanted to know about forcing people to do pricey assessments of possible damage to the birds, bees, bugs and bush in national parks.
A year or so ago, the same parliamentary politicians, no doubt bored by the tawdry tales of some other taxpayer dollar disaster, decided to amend the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act.
"Recreational and physical activities" would now have to be part of this formal government process to measure the environmental impact of their events.
Well, a year or so later, Parks Canada people in Banff are near completing how this will all work out.
"We have 15 large-scale events in the park from 40 to the 4,500 participants in Melissa's Road Race. We want to define their impact on wildlife, visitors and the flora. We are going to have to see which of the events will be affected and what process they would have to follow," says Judy Glowinski of Parks Canada in Banff.
"It is all being reviewed as we speak. It might affect all or some or none. We are reviewing the amendment changes and how they apply. We want to define what the process will look like."
"It could go all the way from no environmental assessment to a formal detailed environmental assessment."
Already some have felt the power of Parks Canada.
The Jasper-Banff Relay, started in 1980, is no more.
Read the opening line of the relay's obituary in an Edmonton newspaper last year: "The Jasper-Banff Relay, an internationally-renowned foot race through Canada's most spectacular scenery, will be run for the last time next month partly because Parks Canada wants organizers to do an environmental impact study that could cost $80,000."
As well, Parks Canada is not allowing any new large-scale events, including everything from sporting competitions to virtually any other organized activity, but not including small family barbecues. (Thanks, Sheila!)
Current events will not be allowed to grow.
Anyone doing business in the park, guides and rafting companies and the like, will also now come under the new environment assessment rules.
So, to take but one example, the legendary Melissa's Road Race, held on the fourth Saturday in September, brings thousands to the park every year.
It is much more than a renowned race. It is the biggest weekend of the year for many Banff businesses, to say nothing of the park fees it generates.
This year, the race is on. But, under the new rules, Melissa's could soon have to ante up to the Parks poobahs. Melissa's supporters cross their fingers.
Yes Sheila, with all the things Ottawa could fix, let's save the park from a bunch of runners who create a great weekend in Banff and already clean up after themselves, leaving no spilled water or discarded bits of toilet tissue to spoil the pristine wilderness.
The mind boggles.
So when the final answer come? When will Sheila's new rules be out on large-scale events in the park?
"We''ll just have to wait and see," says our Judy.
I was afraid she'd say that