Photo by Whitehorse Star
Pictured Above: LIZ HANSON
Job slashes branded ‘incredibly disappointing'
The Yukon can expect to lose about 27 per cent of its Parks Canada staff by next summer, as more federal job cuts were announced this week.
The Yukon can expect to lose about 27 per cent of its Parks Canada staff by next summer, as more federal job cuts were announced this week.
Parks Canada has roughly 110 employees in the Yukon. Thirty of those positions will be cut by the summer of 2013.
Nationally, the department will slash 1,689 positions.
Anne Morin, the field unit superintendent for the Yukon, said "for the vast majority of visitors, the visitors themselves will see minimal differences when they visit our iconic places.”
But there will be some changes to services offered at historic sites around the territory as the staff level is reduced.
In Whitehorse, the SS Klondike National Historic Site will no longer provide guided tours, offering self-guided tours instead. There will also be basic service at the visitor centre, she said. The historic video will continue to be offered to visitors.
In Kluane National Park and Reserve, winter services, including winter camping at the Kathleen Lake Campground and ski track setting, will no longer be offered.
Search and rescue capacity in Kluane will also be cut back, but Morin said Parks Canada will continue to provide visitor safety information on accident protection.
Just outside of Dawson City, the Dredge No. 4 National Historic Site will no longer feature guided tours. Starting next summer, visitors will be able to read interpretive signage and view the dredge from the parking area.
Morin said there is potential to enhance visitors' experience in the historical complex in Dawson City over time because it's been selected as a lead Parks Canada National Historic Site.
In the legislature Tuesday, Environment Minister Currie Dixon said that while there will be some changes in service to Park Canada operations in the Yukon, there won't be any permanent closures.
"The Yukon government parks staff will continue to provide the excellent service that they have in providing services through our parks and campgrounds that are managed by the Yukon government,” he added.
In an interview today, Liz Hanson, the leader of the official Opposition, called the Parks Canada job reductions "short-sighted.
"It's incredibly disappointing to see these kinds of cuts on a number of fronts,” she said.
Parks Canada's operations in the Yukon are key for tourism in the territory, she said. The cuts reflect a misunderstanding on the part of the federal government of the impact these reductions could have on Yukon's economy.
"The whole notion that we shut down and neglect our history is very short-sighted,” said Hanson.
The fact that you won't be able to go in the dredge because Parks Canada will not be offering guided tours is just one small example, she said.
Hanson also noted that Parks Canada jobs are important in small communities.
"I think we need both the territorial Minister of Tourism (Mike Nixon) and the premier (Darrell Pasloski) to be making it clear that these historic sites and Parks Canada's presence, they play a critical role in the overall tourism strategy in the territory,” she said.
"When you start underinvesting, you undermine the quality of the visit that tourists have and then that word get out and people don't come.”
The Public Service Alliance of Canada regional executive vice-president for Northern Canada could not be reached for comment on Parks Canada's staff cuts before deadline.
Representatives of the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society-Yukon and the Yukon Conservation Society were also unavailable for comment.
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Comments (10)
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Mike McLarnon on May 9, 2012 at 7:12 am
I find this story incredibly disappointing. I used to pay the Canadian Government to operate tours on the S.S. Klondike. They actually made money and received longer hours of service and more tourists. The situation changed and they felt that government control was more important than efficiency so it went back to public service hire. Well look what happened! Great job, Parks Canada you now have an expensive maintenance job that nobody will pay to see and with no permanent jobs. Harper at least recognizes organizational folly when he sees it.
Mike McLarnon
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nick on May 8, 2012 at 6:35 am
"Welfare Territory" has it right....We, the average Yukoner gets the HIGHEST transfer payments in the country, even Quebec residents only get a fraction of what we get per captia.
900 million in Money from "Outside" for a 1.1 Billion budget. Yep, we have no idea what reality is
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We Are A Welfare Territory on May 6, 2012 at 1:01 pm
By my estimation, roughly 70% of all spending in Yukon originates by government of one level or other before becoming 'recycled spending' over and over again as it circulates its way through the economy. One in every five people is employed directly by government, another two workers out of that five owe their jobs directly to government spending. We are a welfare territory. Instead of badmouthing the federal government for cutting 30 positions we should be thanking them for the continued multi billion dollar handouts that enable the standard of living that every single Yukoner enjoys today. We have no right to complain as we owe the rest of Canada a huge debt of gratitude for bankrolling us. If the feds cut off their $700 million annual contribution tomorrow we would have something a lot more serious to worry about that not seeing inside the dredge. We are becoming a territory of whiners who think all we have to do is complain to Ottawa loud enough and more money will appear. While no one likes to see people lose their jobs maybe we had better keep the bigger picture in mind here. There is a reason the Yukon is known as 'La-La Land', because we are cushioned from almost every upheaval the rest of the country has to face by our comparatively massive levels of government spending, appreciate that fact.
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Jackie Ward on May 4, 2012 at 9:54 am
We suffer again. Billions to waste on fake lakes and fancy jets we do not need. Raise the pension age, flood the country with immigrants. I have no problem with others coming here for a better life. We are all immigrants. But I have a problem with the mass influx of non-English speaking, society disrespecting immigrants who come and here and act like they are owed something. I read an article a few months ago that said people who come here and apply as a refugee can almost get up to $3000/month in benefits and welfare. Almost triple of what a pensioner who has paid into the system for 40-50 years gets. Do you people care about that? Where are the protests and the outrage? Our country is being destroyed systematically from the top down. And everyone just sits there saying "what can I do about it?". I wish my government treated me as good as they do people and company's from a foreign land. It makes me so sad. All the work my Grandparents did, parents, and yours as well, to build this great country, to have it flushed down the toilet without a thought. Seriously pathetic. Are you finally going to do something about it?
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M.D. on May 3, 2012 at 8:55 am
It's not poor fiscal management, it's implementing an ideology with fiscal resources, or lack of them.
As "it's got to end somewhere" says, "some of us have had enough of these kinds of actions". We used to have a system where "some of us" didn't -- couldn't -- promote their own self-interests at the expense of the rest of us, but those days are gone.
Ryan Leef got in by just over 100 votes. By the time he's gone, we'll have fewer parks, fewer jobs of the kind that Parks Canada can provide, where skills that can't necessarily be quantified can be put to use, less fresh air, scarier water, scarier food sources, and much fewer ways to appreciate that this country used to be more aspirational than "drill, baby, drill."
In fact, if Harper can succeed in shutting down the Archives, he can send people to war and our ancestors will know little about it. Unless someone figures out how to manage the country's archives "out of their own pocket".
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It's got to end somewhere! on May 3, 2012 at 7:31 am
Maybe Parks Canada should start charging admission to their sites. That way all the people who actually use them and are upset about the staffing reductions can do something about it out of their own pocket.
As for myself, I'm to busy working and paying the taxes that support these Parks to ever get to visit them.
This brings to mind what's going on at the local level in Whitehorse, I've never ridden a city bus and don't use the Canada games center. But as I struggle to pay for a ridiculously expensive house in Whitehorse, I'm expected to foot the bill for both of those through ever increasing property taxes to subsidize others use of them.Then the City gave away $1.3 million more tax dollars to benefit the relatively small percentage of citizens who use the ski hill.
Some of us have just had enough of these kind of actions, there has to be a end to this ever increasing misuse of taxpayer funds.
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Jackie Ward on May 2, 2012 at 11:25 am
This is what the CON-servatives do. Kill good paying jobs and open the flood gates for immigrants. Why are we allowing this? What will it take Canada? To take your country back that our fore-fathers died to protect? Simply embarrassing. Then next week we will see some high priced "JOB KILLING ECONOMIC ACTION PLAN BS" on TV. Creating temporary jobs that benefits really no-one, and killing unions and anyone who dares make a good wage with a pension. The middle class is the enemy of our government. I guess losing your house will be the tipping point for alot of folks who hopefully will wake from their slumber and realize we are all in a lot of trouble. Or just continue burying your head in the sand hoping the storm will pass.
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Boyde White on May 2, 2012 at 10:53 am
These kind of cuts in staff for historical sites is indeed very short sighted. Why would someone like myself travel 4500 miles to visit and experience all there is to see from the past in the Yukon when it is only presented in a shallow manner. Thank Heavens my wife and myself have had the opportunity to experience, as examples: the guided dredge and Klondike tours in the past. They will certainly not be presented the same now. Come on Yukoners protest!!!
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Patrick on May 2, 2012 at 8:29 am
These cutbacks were to done to make Parks Canada more efficient.
If you notice that there is less service please remember that its more efficient and each person who loses a job is on the front line to make up for the reduced GST.
So, if we had the same GST as prior to the election, would there be a need to cut jobs and government spending?
The answer is no- this the whole cutback thing is poor fiscal management by the Harper government.
Are you children intelligent and hard working enough to get a federal scholarship for two years during their masters program. Sorry, due to cutbacks they can now get NSERC for only one year.
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flyingfur on May 2, 2012 at 7:23 am
By my estimation, Yukon has only 7% of all the national parks and reserves in Canada, and yet at the hands of the Harper government, we're losing 27% of the people that protect and manage the national parks in our territory. These are not cuts to make these areas more efficient or streamlined; services are being discontinued. Is this not the kind of thing that our MP should be speaking about in Ottawa when the Yukon appears to be taking a disproportionate hit on these cuts? Imagine if there was a 27% cut to staff at Parks Canada in Ontario or Quebec...I think there would be one hell of a noise going on.