The Gatineau Park Protection Committee (GPPC) has issued a press release calling on all NDP leadership candidates to give high priority to legislative protection for Gatineau Park in their campaign platforms and to discuss the issue during their first debate scheduled for Sunday, December 4, in Ottawa.

Gatineau Park has always been an issue of leadership with the NDP: Jack Layton was the first federal leader to advocate park legislation; Ed Broadbent was the first to table a bill on the park; and interim Leader Nycole Turmel has promised to introduce legislation as well. So those seeking to take their mantle should tell us where they stand on the issue.

For over 40 years, concerned citizens and environmental groups have requested that Gatineau Park be given legal status to protect it from unsuitable encroachments, developments and sell offs. In the absence of such protection, the National Capital Commission (NCC), which runs the park, has removed nearly eight square kilometres of park land, while allowing construction of 122 houses and five new roads inside its boundaries.

Among the latest threats to the park are highway construction and destruction of habitat near Brown Lake in the Municipality of La Pêche. Set to resume in December, clearcuts will see another 100 acres of parkland – much of it mature forest – cleared, bulldozed and blasted to extend Highway 5 from Chelsea to Wakefield.

Both the GPPC and the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society have argued that legislative protection for the park should make conservation and ecological integrity top management priorities; enshrine clear boundaries in an act of Parliament; mandate private property acquisitions; and dedicate the park to future generations.

No other party has done as much as the NDP to push forward the idea of protective legislation for Gatineau Park, and it would be a shame for its leadership candidates to ignore the issue.

The first of six scheduled NDP leadership debates will take place in Ottawa on December 4 at the Convention Centre between 2:00 p.m. and 4:00. The theme for Sunday’s debate will be “Towards an Inclusive Economy.” Notably absent from the list of themes is the environment.

The first federal leader to advocate legislative protection for Gatineau Park.

GATINEAU PARK AND THE NDP: A TIMELINE

Although Jack Layton was the first federal party leader to advocate legislative protection for Gatineau Park in May 2003, the NDP didn’t introduce a private member’s bill until two years later, in November 2005, when former leader Ed Broadbent tabled Bill C-444.

Mr. Broadbent’s bill died on the Order Paper a few weeks later with the call of a federal election. He was named the Globe and Mail’s “Man of the year” about one month later.

In April 2006, former Manitoba Senator Mira Spivak (Ind.) introduced Bill S-210, which was almost identical to Mr. Broadbent’s C-444. Heeding the advice of the Gatineau Park Protection Committee, Ottawa Centre MP Paul Dewar followed suit in May when he tabled his own Gatineau Park legislation (C-311) providing safeguards identical to those contained in the Broadbent bill.

Senator Spivak’s bill was studied by the Senate Energy and Environment Committee in March 2007, receiving support from the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society, the Sierra Club, the New Woodlands Preservation League (GPPC), as well as the NCC. Her bill was adopted by the committee with amendments regarding ecological integrity, the right of first refusal and dedication to future generations.

Following the 2008 general election, Mr. Dewar reintroduced his park bill in April 2009 (C-367), incorporating several amendments suggested by the Gatineau Park Protection Committee, including ones identical to those that had been recommended by the Senate committee.

In June 2009, the federal government introduced Bill C-20, which dealt not only with Gatineau Park but with the NCC as well. The bill died on the Order Paper when Parliament prorogued. Both it and its successor, Bill C-37, were strongly opposed by the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society and the Gatineau Park Protection Committee. More than 40 amendments had been introduced.

Unfortunately, the NDP reversed its position on Gatineau Park during study of Bill C-37. The party had introduced amendments to incorporate safeguards that had been featured in the Broadbent and Dewar bills during study of Bill C-20. However, the NDP introduced no amendments to Bill C-37, and went so far as to vote against amendments identical to those it had previously introduced – and which had been proposed by the Bloc Québécois.

On April 15, 2011, during the last federal election, NDP interim leader Nycole Turmel issued a press release promising to table Gatineau Park legislation as a matter of high priority. Altough she has indicated she would not introduce the bill until sometime in 2012, Ms. Turmel tabled a motion on September 15, 2011 urging the government to give Gatineau Park the protection it sorely needs. Below is the text of her motion as printed in the September 19, 2011 Order and Notice Paper:

“M-262 — September 15, 2011 — Mrs. Turmel (Hull—Aylmer) — That in the opinion of the House, the government should immediately take the necessary steps to provide Gatineau Park with the essential protections to safeguard its natural assets and to preserve it for future generations.”

Leader of the Opposition Nycole Turmel: taking action to protect Gatineau Park.