Fossil kerfuffle
Not enough staff to handle tourists at Mistaken Point, Tories say
Opposition House Leader Keith Hutchings says that the government isn’t ready for an influx of tourists at Mistaken Point on the southern Avalon this summer, but Fisheries and Land Resources Minister Steve Crocker dismissed that as “fearmongering.”
Hutchings said last year around 700 people were turned away from the newly designated UNESCO World Heritage Site at Mistaken Point, which is home to fossils that are 500 million years old.
Because of the fragility of the site, tourists cannot visit the fossils without a guide.
“I mean, there’s growing pains here. We get all that,” Hutchings said. “But when, last year, you recognize that you need those four staff, and here we are in March and the season is quickly approaching and we don’t have any of those positions approved, somebody’s really got to ask, who’s overseeing this?”
Hiring on hold
Hutchings also raised concern that four positions for Mistaken Point staffing had been advertised, but then the hiring process had been put on hold.
There appeared to be confusion within the government about the whole situation; first Tourism, Culture, Industry and Innovation Minister Christopher Mitchelmore spoke to reporters, but only said that he doesn’t deal with staffing.
Mitchelmore, said he can talk about the government’s marketing campaign and social media advertising when it comes to Mistaken Point, but as for the actual staff who will show the tourists around the site, he wasn’t responsible for that.
A little while later, Crocker emerged to speak to reporters, and said that the government would definitely have adequate staffing at Mistaken Point.
But he was a little vague about whether the government had actually advertised to hire four people, and then backed away from it. He said he wasn’t sure.
He also said that hiring at Mistaken Point was a “budgetary consideration” and will be made in the coming weeks.
“We don’t know what the number will be. The number will be what it needs to be,” Crocker said.
Later in the day, a communications official on behalf of Crocker confirmed that it was actually three positions that the government advertised for earlier this year, not four, and “These positions are continuing through the screening process.”
“I mean, there’s growing pains here. We get all that. But when, last year, you recognize that you need those four staff, and here we are in March and the season is quickly approaching and we don’t have any of those positions approved, somebody’s really got to ask, who’s overseeing this?”
Opposition House Leader Keith Hutchings