Federal budget cuts mean volunteers maintain winter trails in national parks

When Stephen Harper drove a snowmobile last week near Quebec City to highlight millions in equipment grants given to private clubs, a different scene was unfolding in national parks across Canada.

Winter-loving volunteers were clearing ski trails in national parks on their own time, stepping in to the vacuum left by federal government budget cuts across the system.

From Prince Edward Island to British Columbia, small-business owners, non-profit ski clubs and community associations have entered into agreements with Parks Canada to keep their beloved crosscountry trails open and groomed.

Each deal is different. Some groups can use Parks Canada equipment; others rely on community resources.

Winter services began to disappear in parks across Canada in 2012 as the agency started imposing deep spending cuts that have since left Parks Canada with a budget $27 million lighter than the $652-million envelope forecast in 2012-13. Some parks had fresh management plans in place that talked about expanding winter services.

Documents obtained by the Toronto Star last year indicated that reducing the operating season at parks and historic sites would save the agency $5 million annually. Today, only a handful of national parks have an active winter service run by staff, including Banff and Jasper in Alberta.

Local communities complained there had been no consultation on the decision. Gradually volunteer groups began to offer to pick up the slack, working with local Parks Canada employees.

Stephane Morissette of the Centre Culturel le Griffon in Quebec’s Gaspé region entered into an agreement with Parks Canada to help groom 15 kilometres of trail in Forillon National Park. Before the cuts, 40 kilometres were kept up.

About five volunteers use the Parks Canada grooming equipment, but Morissette worries about when the aging machines die.

“It’s impossible to get money from the federal government for that. We have money from the provincial government, from the town ..., the regional municipality,” she said. “But from the federal government, no. To have money like the private snowmobile clubs — they have incredible equipment, some have two or three groomers and just use one.”

The government has spent multiple millions in economic development grants for Quebec snowmobile clubs since taking power in 2006 — $1.6 million in the past two months alone. A separate envelope for national snowmobile and recreational trails has earmarked $35 million in funding since 2009.