---- Gatineau Park Master Plan: an F

 

The 2020 Gatineau Park Master Plan is a resounding failure because the NCC is undermining the park’s public and ecological vocations by reversing its previous policies and capitulating to private interests.

From saying in all its previous master plans that private properties harm the environment and are inconsistent with the park’s mission, the NCC now sees park residents as partners, stewards and protectors of the land. 

Although the 2020 draft plan is sound in several respects—1) urging the government to adopt protective legislation for the park; 2) recognizing R.P. Sparks’ key role in creating the park; 3) specifying, adjusting and clarifying the park’s boundaries; 4) creating wildlife corridors on the park’s periphery; 5) admitting the NCC had misled the public regarding ownership of 61.5 km2 of land in the lac La Pêche sector;  6) getting better visitor figures—these positive elements don’t compensate for this sell-out to private interests.

Unless reference to park residents as partners, protectors and stewards is removed, and proper focus is put on the need to continue acquiring private lands and impose a permanent building freeze, the 2020 Gatineau Park Master Plan will go down in history as the milestone that signalled the complete collapse of a conservation park worthy of the name. 

Jean-Paul Murray, GPPC 

Chelsea