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He
was at the Laurel Point Inn Tuesday to announce a $200,000 B.C.
government donation to help acquire parkland in the Sooke Hills.
But
Premier Donsanjh attracted a scrum of reporters from the press gallery
more interested in when the coming election, which must be called
by June, will be held.
Dosanjh brushed off questions about the timing of the government’s
agenda, saying an election is several weeks away.
“A week is an eternity
in politics, and we are now engaging Mr. Campbell (the Opposition
Liberal leader) on many important issues,” he told reporters,
“and I would urge you to scrutinize him as thoroughly as you
scrutinize me.”
For The Land Conservancy
of B.C., the provincial donation, though small, was important news.
The TLC needed the money to close a $5.3-million deal this week
to buy 1,376 hectares from Seraphim, a Canadian investment company.
The Seraphim Lands make up the last large blocks of property left
in the creation of a massive park stretching from Saltspring Island
through the Saanich Inlet to the Sooke Hills and Sooke Basin.
The Capital Regional District is chipping in $3 million for the
land. The federal government had announced an additional $2-million
contribution.
However, TLC, which also raised more than $550,000, had to borrow
money because the government money is being paid in instalments
and it was short the $200,000 needed for the deal to be finally
closed this week.
The TLC will transfer the
Seraphim Lands to CRD Parks, which will develop a park management
plan for the Sooke Hills before any public access is allowed.
Alison Spriggs, TLC campaigner, thanked the provincial government
“on behalf of wolves and satin flowers, screech owls and all
that‘s been protected today.”
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She
noted that the Seraphim Lands are part of a corridor of 115 square
kilometres of protected greenbelt serving as Victoria’s backdrop,
more than 80 square kilometres of which were provided by the provincial
government. “It simply wouldn’t have happened without their support.”
Victoria-area MLAs Andrew Petter, Moe Sihota and Steve Orcherton were
on hand for the announcement, touting it as part of the NDP’s “greenprint”
for the region.
Petter estimated the government had spent about $30 million over the
past decade creating parks in Greater Victoria like Gowlland Tod,
Mount Finlayson and Sooke Hills wilderness.
But conservationists are already looking forward to further park creation.
The Seraphim Lands was supposed to be part of a larger federal-provincial
“biodiversity package” to create parks across southern B.C.
The planned $110-million deal is still being negotiated by the two
governments.
“I want it to happen, whether or not that happens (before the provincial
election) depends on the cooperation of the federal government,” Dosanjh
said. “We would like to do it if at all possible —we’re committed
to it.”
Included in the package is land on Saltspring Island, the Cowichan
Estuary, Burns Bog in the Lower Mainland and property in the South
Okanagan.
“We have a critical time-line now, I think, to get some of these lands
protected,” said Vicky Husband, of the Sierra Club of B.C.
Husband suggested that federal Environment Minister David Anderson
will be under pressure to announce federal action when he appears
Thursday at a celebration scheduled for 10 a.m. at the Abkhazi Gardens
in Fairfield. |
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