Mr. Speaker, I will start by repeating the question that I raised in the House earlier this week:
The Calgary Olympic bid exploration committee is making plans to include Banff's Lake Louise ski area in its 2026 bid. Putting the Olympic Games in Canada's oldest national park would demand expanding the resort into protected natural areas. The environment minister has been silent on whether she would permit Olympic expansion in this UNESCO world heritage site.
Will she stand today and firmly reject any further development in Banff National Park?
The minister avoided my question in the House during question period and she is not here tonight, which is really quite worrisome.
Why did I raise the question? I raised it for three reasons. The first reason is to give the Minister of Environment, who is the decision-maker on this potential project, the opportunity to show her support for protecting national parks.
I also want to be fair to the Calgary Olympic bid exploration committee and its 2026 bid. It needs to know as soon as possible whether Lake Louise will be part of the discussion or not.
I also want to protect the ecological integrity of Banff National Park. Banff National Park is a world heritage site, similar to Wood Buffalo, and we have seen recently what happens if government is not properly protecting a world heritage site. UNESCO came and reviewed what was happening in Wood Buffalo and expressed its concern about a number of aspects of the park, including the Site C dam in British Columbia and the oil sands and their impact on water.
What would happen to Banff National Park if additional development takes place in the Lake Louise ski area to accommodate athletes, the media, and the public in order to have the Olympic Games occur in this park? This a two-week event.
During our environmental committee trip to Banff in September, when we were exploring how Canada could get to 10% protected water and 17% protected land, we went to Lake Louise and heard a presentation from the area owners about expanding the Lake Louise ski area. National parks staff at the time said that there should be no development or changes to ski areas unless they benefit ecological integrity. The number one purpose of the parks act is ecological integrity.
Here is what some of the locals said about this particular proposal:
Once a generation, this dumb idea of Winter Olympics in Banff National Park comes up
explained conservationist Harvey Locke, a resident of Banff.
It's a great idea to nip in the bud. It should not happen. It should not be considered.
Locke says the hosting of events within the park would result in a development boom at the ski hill, and there would be pressure to expand the resort's boundaries. Banff National Park is a world heritage site. To destroy part of it to support a two-week Olympic event would be ridiculous.
My question again tonight is this: will the minister do the right thing and say no now to this proposal, which has the potential to seriously harm the ecological integrity of Banff National Park?