Question Period Note: Development in National Parks: Ski Areas

Development in National Parks: Ski Areas

• In managing national parks, Parks Canada maintains or restores ecological integrity and provides Canadians with opportunities to discover and enjoy these treasured places.
• Strict development limits are in place to protect the ecological integrity of national parks. Parks Canada has a rigorous development review and environmental assessment process that ensures all development proposals comply with these limits and healthy ecosystems are maintained.
• Parks Canada requires resort-specific site guidelines and long-range plans that involve both strategic environmental assessments and extensive public consultation.
• Parks Canada has worked successfully with ski areas in the mountain national parks to achieve ecological gains and meet the evolving expectations of visitors.
• The Government of Canada is pleased that all four mountain park ski areas have approved site guidelines that will guide potential future development and use.

• There are four ski areas in the Mountain Parks: Marmot Basin in Jasper National Park, and Lake Louise, Sunshine Village and Mount Norquay ski areas in Banff National Park.
• Parks Canada’s Ski Area Management Guidelines (2006) provide the overall direction and consistency for ski area planning in the mountain national parks.
• Each ski area has developed site guidelines which identify parameters to guide potential future development and use; to establish negotiated, permanent growth limits; and to provide land use certainty regarding the types of projects and use at a ski area. A ski area’s site guidelines need to be consistent with the Ski Area Management Guidelines and the Park Management Plan and, along with the accompanying strategic environmental assessment, are subject to public and Indigenous consultation. Site guidelines provide the broad direction for specific development proposals that a ski area may choose to advance in long-range plans.

MARMOT BASIN
• Marmot Basin has approved site guidelines (2008), and is operating under a long-range plan approved in June 2015. A new 42-year lease was signed with the operator in August 2018.

LAKE LOUISE
• The Lake Louise ski area is operating within an approved long-range plan and a new 42-year lease signed with the operator in September 2019.
• Site guidelines for the Lake Louise ski area were approved in August 2015 and included a reduction of the leasehold. Parcels of ecologically-sensitive land were returned to declared wilderness, resulting in a 30 percent net reduction to the leasehold. Other substantial environmental gains included:
o Physical and operational improvements to the effectiveness of the Whitehorn wildlife corridor;
o Increased habitat security for grizzly bears and other sensitive species; and
o Improved water management to mitigate impacts on sensitive aquatic environments.
• The new boundaries of the ski area were brought into effect through legislative amendments under Schedule 5 of the Canada National Parks Act on June 6, 2019.

SUNSHINE VILLAGE
• Site guidelines were approved in December 2018 and a new 42-year lease was signed with the operator in August 2019. The site guidelines provide for increased daily skier capacity, additional commercial space, up to 80 hectares of new ski terrain and eight new lifts. In terms of environmental gains, 61 hectares of land with high ecological value will be returned to Parks Canada so that it may be protected from future development.
• The resort does not currently have a long-range plan. As of October 2019, discussions were underway between the operator and Parks Canada on a summer use plan and installation of a fiber optic line as per the site guidelines.

MOUNT NORQUAY
• Mount Norquay is currently operating under approved site guidelines (2011) and an approved long-range plan, as well as a 42-year lease. Legislative amendments under Schedule 5 of the Canada National Parks Act were came into effect on June 6, 2019, to reflect the boundary changes developed and agreed upon collaboratively with Norquay ski area operator in the site guidelines. The boundary changes brought into effect a 44 percent reduction in leasehold size.
• On June 1, 2018, Liricon submitted a development proposal that includes a gondola from the Town of Banff to the ski area, redevelopment of the railway district for parking, and passenger rail from Calgary to Banff.

Question Period notes as provided by the Department to the Minister’s Office