Clark says the action will not result in a cut to the provincial parks budget

Axing an unpopular tax proved to be a walk in the park Tuesday for Premier Christy Clark.

Clark honoured a leadership campaign promise by cancelling parking fees in provincial parks, an initiative introduced by the Liberal government in 2003 when she was deputy premier.

"This is not about politics," Clark told a news conference at Mount Seymour Provincial Park. "It's about making sure our parks are accessible. I've grown up in B.C. My family always used parks throughout our lives. I think that parking meters -making people pay for parking -in B.C. parks stops some people from using them."

Clark promised that BC Parks' funding would not be reduced further as a result of the decision and that makeup money would be found. "This isn't a cut to the parks budget."

Environment Minister Terry Lake said in a later interview that parking meters in provincial parks earned about $1 million annually, of which $350,000 went to general revenue and $650,000 to park facility operators.

The province spent $1.85 million to purchase and install them, he said, adding he expected some would be used to collect camping fees while others would be sold.

Gwen Barlee, policy director of the Wilderness Committee, urged the province to now restore funding to a park system that has been "starved" for a decade. She cited a decline in the annual parks budget to $30 million this year from $40 million in 1991/92, despite a doubling of parkland.

"I'm not saying this is window dressing," she said of axing parking fees. "It's a small step in the right direction. But we need something more meaningful."

NDP environment critic Rob Fleming described Clark's move as cynical because she is hoping to distract the public from her role in the Liberals' legacy of park mismanagement.

The premier's announcement does not affect parking fees at national, regional or municipal parks.

The Vancouver park board says hourly parking rates at 13 parks and community centres range from $1 to $3 and daily rates range from $4 to $14 -representing about $5 million in total revenue last year.

Board chair Aaron Jasper said eliminating parking fees would simply result in a greater tax burden on city homeowners. "The money has to come from somewhere. Being the lowest rung of government, we don't have many options."

He noted that residents have the option of taking public transit or riding a bicycle to a city park, whereas people generally have to drive to a provincial park.

Metro Vancouver Regional District charges for parking at two locations:

. Fraser lot at Pacific Spirit Regional Park, $1.25 an hour to a maximum of $6 per day, which generated just under $90,000 in net revenue to the region last year.

. Capilano River Regional Park, fish hatchery: Commercial bus tours, $25 to $43, depending on size, generating net revenue of just over $17,000.

Government documents obtained by the Wilderness Committee through freedom of information legislation in 2005 showed a 20-per-cent decline in park use in the Lower Mainland from 2002 to 2003, the year parking fees were introduced.

"People shouldn't have to pay to walk in a park or have a picnic on the beach," Barlee said Tuesday.

A B.C. auditor-general report last August concluded the Ministry of Environment had failed to meet its mandate to preserve the ecological integrity of parks and protected areas.

It found that, despite its "declared intentions and clear vision to conserve the ecological integrity in B.C.'s parks and protected areas, the Ministry of Environment is not successfully meeting this goal."

The province Tuesday also announced a $500,000 Community Legacy Program related to the 100th anniversary of the provincial park system.

Community groups can apply for up to $20,000 for projects such as trail work and other improvements that support recreational activities or conservation of a park's ecology or cultural history.