Mr. Speaker, it is a pleasure to rise today to speak to Bill C-27.
I have a national park in my riding. It is one of the most beautiful spots in the world, Waterton Lakes National Park. I spent some time up there talking to the people in the park. I have been able to meet with the superintendents, present and past, to discuss issues. I recently attended a Waterton Lakes leaseholders meeting to hear what some of their concerns are and certainly some of the comments made by the member for Dauphin—Swan River were reflected in the comments I heard.
I would like to compliment the member for Dauphin—Swan River for sticking with this bill. He has worked hard on it. He brought forward some very good amendments and actually had one accepted by the government, which in this day and age is sometimes a strange happening. I congratulate him. It is an issue that goes back to before his life as the mayor of Dauphin. I also want to thank him for his tour of the western national parks. He went to Waterton and met with people and held a really good grassroots consultation process to enable him to develop the position he has taken and the position he has helped our party to take. That is exactly what needs to be done.
One of the problems we see with the bill is that a mandated consultation process needs to be in place. People who live in these parks have a right to consult directly with Parks Canada. They are a little nervous about the way it is structured right now, to be quite frank. They feel that the minister and the governor in council have far too many powers. There is a little mistrust by the people who live and work in the parks of the government and Parks Canada. That grassroots consultation process would be very important for the bill to be received properly and to work properly.
People have worked with me and kept me informed of what is happening at Waterton Lakes National Park. In particular, Jason Bruns was one of the first people who talked to me after I was elected. He is an outdoorsman, he is a fisherman, he enjoys the park and any time he sees an issue that he thinks I need to be aware of he certainly brings it to my attention. I appreciate that. A few weeks ago, on the long weekend in May, when I was in Waterton for the leaseholders meeting, I met with him and he toured me around to show me some of the things that he would like to see changed, and we talked about some of the issues that he has. He is an avid lover of the park. He enjoys the outdoors and he feels that certainly protecting the ecological integrity of our parks is important. However, the people who are best able to do that are the people who are close to our parks. It is important that the government and the minister consult with the people who use and live in these parks. They have the best idea of how to preserve them and keep them for future generations.
One of the amendments that was brought forward was to deal with wardens, how they carry out their jobs and the fact that they should be allowed to carry firearms to protect themselves and to do their jobs properly. That was defeated. That is unfortunate because we feel that would give them a certain degree of security in the process they go through to carry out their duties.
But to get back to the leaseholders, there is a process in place now whereby the leases in the parks, particularly in Waterton, which I am most familiar with, are reviewed only once every 10 years. At the present time the leaseholders are facing a huge increase in lease amounts.
We feel that the ability to consult with the government on a more regular basis and with the department would have helped alleviate some of this. It is important that the process be in place to give people a chance to bring their ideas forward to be acted on by the government.
The member for Dauphin—Swan River alluded to some of the unique situations that exist in the parks. They are not all the same. I have had letters from people in Jasper asking why they cannot be treated the same as the people in Waterton and why they cannot be treated the same as the people in Banff. Each one is different. Banff has its own town council that runs the affairs there.
It is important that we realize that there is this difference and that the minister takes the time to consult and not to paint everybody with the same brush under the same rules, because every place is unique and different.
The Trans-Canada Highway runs through Banff National Park. That creates a whole issue of separate concerns to do with wildlife. The amount of money collected at the Banff gate helps to run the entire national park system.
In closing, I would like to reiterate that the people who use the parks, the people who live in the parks, the people who have businesses in the parks and certainly the visitors who come from all over the world to enjoy our national parks all need a voice in the implementation of legislation and the laws that govern them. We hope that the government recognizes that fact, that it will honour those views and that it will implement them in the future.