A Wildrose government would be prepared to examine ways of dealing with the massive mess sometimes left by campers and others in the West Country during summer weekends, party leader Danielle Smith said during an election campaign stopover in town.
“Let me answer it two ways,” Smith told the Round Up. “One is that with a Wildrose government individual MLAs will have the ability to bring forth issues that matter in their communities. It is very difficult under the current government for a local MLA to bring an issue forward. “I suspect this (littering in camping areas) is a problem in every single community where we have campgrounds and outdoor activities. It puts a lot of pressure on local municipal services when you have all these people coming into the area and not paying taxes.
“So there's probably a funding issue that we have to deal with there, to ensure the municipalities have the capacity to deal with the tourist inflow.”
Several dozen Wildrose supporters attended Smith's Saturday stopover at the Sundre firehall, watching Smith taking part in a Jaws of Life rescue demonstration. She also visited with firefighter families.
Vast amounts of rubbish, including abandoned tents, food containers, folding chairs and plastic coolers, have been left in public camping areas west of Sundre in past summers.
While she said she would like to see something done about the littering, Smith said she would not be in favour is making the area less accessible to visitors.
“We don't want everything to be perceived as a preservation zone,” she said. “We need to strike the right balance between taking care of the environment and enjoying the recreational areas. The question is how do we find the right balance.”
With many visitors to the West County using motorized off-road vehicles such as quads these days, Smith said she would be prepared to examine whether helmets for off-road vehicle users should be made mandatory in Alberta.
“It's not something that has been raised by our members as an issue,” she said. “I'm not a quad rider myself and I haven't looked at the statistics on injuries. I tend to believe that some of these recreational activities should be self-policed rather than policed at the provincial government level. I'm open to hearing the evidence to be convinced otherwise.”
Sundre RCMP Sgt. Percy Leipnitz said officers plan to make a concerted effort this Victoria Day long weekend to get West Country visitors to clean up after themselves.
