Hello ORCBC members,
Yesterday offered excellent news for outdoor recreation, and I want to thank all of you for supporting our collective efforts to bring outdoor recreation higher up the list of government priorities and to get some decent – and pragmatic – financial commitments in Budget 2023.
I will share what I know (also see our latest blog), but more details – and possibly additional funding announcements – are expected in the next couple of weeks.
What we currently know is that there will be new funding for:
You can find the 2023 Budget and Fiscal Plan here and the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy’s 2023 Service Plan here.
From my conversation with the assistant deputy minister (BC Parks and RSTBC), Ministry of Environment, my understanding is that all the new funding comes targeted to specific actions to address the maintenance of outdoor recreation facilities, including trails, at both BC Parks and Recreation Sites and Trails BC. The funding grows yearly to reflect the lag in staffing and implementation ramp-up. Because of the nature of their facilities, RSTBC is seeing more in the way of operating uplift (receiving double that of Parks), and BC Parks is seeing more in terms of capital (about 90% of the capital uplift). A portion of that capital goes specifically to accessibility upgrades as part of the Accessibility Guarantee. Both programs receive modest staffing increases (6-7 FTE each) to support the enhanced focus on maintenance. RSTBC and BC Parks are also receiving a budget to address amortization pressures, both existing and new, and this funding will free up some of the existing RSTBC budget, making it available to support other aspects of RSTBC operations. I’m still waiting to learn more about funding to support partnership holders.
Outdoor recreation was prominently featured in the Budget 2023 backgrounder – Advancing B.C.’s strong, sustainable economy. I looked through the budget and financial plans for the past 15+ years, and it is only in the last three years that recreation has been associated with anything other than BC Parks and campsites. I’m confident that this is a testament to the efforts we have all made. It’s paying off – let’s keep going!
As soon as we know a bit more, I believe it would be very appropriate to thank Minister George Heyman (ENV.minister@gov.bc.ca) and Parliamentary Secretary Aman Singh (aman.singh.MLA@leg.bc.ca) – or you are, of course, welcome to do it now. I’ll circulate more information ASAP.
Lastly, we have a members’ roundtable scheduled for tomorrow night at 6 pm. Here’s the Zoom link. I hope to see many of you then.
All the best,
Louise Pedersen
Executive Director | Outdoor Recreation Council of BC
