Rimbey-Rocky Mountain House-Sundre MLA Jason Nixon says his first two months as Alberta’s minister of Environment and Parks has been a real learning experience.
Nixon was first elected as Wildrose MLA for Rimbey-Rocky Mountain House-Sundre in 2015, and re-elected as United Conservative MLA in the riding on April 16.
He was appointed minister shortly after the election.
The Environment and Parks ministry deals with such things as environmental approvals, fish and wildlife, lands, and parks.
“It’s significantly different than being in Opposition,” Nixon said in an interview. “As with any new role, it’s a learning curve.
“It’s been exciting to have an opportunity to come up here and influence more change that you certainly could in Opposition.”
Asked if he feels he is getting a good grasp on his new portfolio, he said, “Yes. The Environment and Parks portfolio is one of the more complicated portfolios as far as the variety of what comes with it. That has been one of the big challenges, getting a handle on all the different files.
“I’m not going to say that we’ve got them all nailed down, but we are definitely in better shape than we were in terms of what’s going on than we were a couple months ago. I don’t think we’ve seen too many surprises.”
Being a member of cabinet means Nixon has been involved with some of the broader government issues facing the province.
“One of the big challenges was phasing out the NDP's carbon tax program,” he said. “That obviously was a fairly complicated process.
“I don’t think we had too much problems doing that but it has taken a significant amount of effort to remove that from the landscape.”
One of the first things Nixon did when appointed minister was to announced the UCP government was not moving forward with the Bighorn Country plan, which would have created new provincial parks and made other changes along the Eastern Slopes in western Alberta.
“We will be focused on enforcement, increasing enforcement in those areas, updating trail maintenance and working with the clubs to address things such as water crossings,” he said.
“We will be returning to the North Saskatchewan planning process (a multi-stakeholder undertaking) and focusing on a partnership with municipalities, First Nations, user groups and industry that utilize the West Country to make sure we find a balance between recreation, economics and the environment.”
He said he foresees more funding coming for enforcement in the West Country.
“It’s in our platform and that’s what we will do,” he said. “We have also been clear in our platform that we will work on a trail fee, a very modest yearly trail fee to be able to utilize the West Country.
“That money would go towards things like enforcement, trail maintenance and some help for municipalities to deal with things such as search and rescue and fire services.”
There is no firm timeline for putting those fees in place, he said.
“It is going to require some legislative changes so we are mapping that out,” he said. “We are looking at a path where we may be able to get this done next spring, but we are not quite in a spot where we can commit to it. We have started that process.”
Nixon, 39, is a Sundre-area resident. His riding covers a portion of Mountain View County.
