News Release
Office of the Official Opposition

Finance Minister looks out for Provincial Park in his District

March 21, 2005

"The Friends of the Park for the only provincial park on the Burin Peninsula have been asking the government for the funding to put a dumping station in Frenchman’s Cove Provincial Park," said Foote. " The Liberal government put a comfort station there and committed to a dumping station, however, before being able to fulfill that commitment, the PC government came to power. Since then, the Friends of the Park have written to the minister responsible for provincial parks, Tom Osborne, requesting that the government make the same commitment. The message from Minister Osborne is that they will have to wait until funding becomes available.

"When the Minister of Finance said today in the budget that the government was investing $250,000 this year in the provincial parks system, I hoped that meant there might be funds available to Frenchman’s Cove Provincial Park. Those hopes were dashed when the Finance Minister announced it was to upgrade La Manche Provincial Park by installing a comfort station and related facilities to make the park a more attractive destination for recreation enthusiasts. La Manche Provincial Park is in Minister Sullivan’s own district.

"If the Minister of Finance recognizes the need to make La Manche Provincial Park an attractive destination, certainly he can see the need to do so for other provincial parks instead of playing favorites with the one in his own district. Frenchman’s Cove is the only provincial park on the Burin Peninsula and is used extensively by the residents of the Burin Peninsula. Unfortunately, the absence of a dumping station has seen many tourists bypass the park. Today’s budget could have put a stop to that if the Finance Minister had given the same consideration to all provincial parks as he did to the one in his district."

Media Contact:
Jeff Mackey
Caucus Communications
Office of the Official Opposition
709-729-6427