Newly appointed Minister of Tourism, Culture and the Arts Bill Bennett has a lot of issues on his desk and one of them, he admits, is the controversial Jumbo Glacier Resort (JGR).
He pointed out that the decision will be government made, not by him alone. East Kootenay MLA Bennett emphasized that government processes must be respected and that there are proper legal processes in place for these kinds of decisions. JGR is no different than a mining or forestry project, he said. It has to go through the processes in a satisfactory manner to be approved.
“I will not be making a political decision [on JGR],” he said.
Bennett, who was asked to resign as the Minister of State for Mining in February 2007 due to a profanity laced email, was made Minister of Tourism, Culture and the Arts June 23.
The legislative Tourism Critic is local Columbia River-Revelstoke MLA Norm Macdonald. Admitting he was “kind of surprised” when Bennett was made a cabinet minister, Macdonald said his job is to make sure that the government will live up to its promise in 2004 that local elected officials will make the decision on the proposed resort and be respectful of local population.
“They can’t discount people’s opinions,” Macdonald said. “Any attempt to deviate from the government promise and he’ll (Bennett) have a fight on his hands.”
But JGR certainly won’t be the only issue on Minister Bennett’s desk. As Macdonald points out, “Tourism is a very important issue in our region.”
Bennett said he thinks that the U.S. economy is the biggest tourism concern for the province as a whole as provincially we are very reliant on them. Not solely reliant, he pointed out, but largely reliant. The rubber tire traffic from the U.S. has been suffering from the higher gas prices and suffering economy.
However, he added that the East Kootenay region is lucky to depend more heavily on the Alberta market and less on American or other B.C. tourists.
“Their economy is staying strong,” he said. “As long as oil prices remain high.”
Bennett has a long history working in the tourism industry. For 22 years he did everything from working in a lodge sharpening knives and making beds, to guiding fishermen in Northern Ontario and owning his own fly-in wilderness lodge.
“It feels like coming home,” he said. It wasn’t until he was 38 years old that he went to law school.
Bennett also believes that one thing B.C. is lacking in but has huge potential for is cultural tourism, specifically Aboriginal culture. He claims he’ll work hard to develop a cultural tourism program for B.C.
“The potential for tourism in B.C. in unlimited,” Bennett said. “It has beautiful places, beautiful scenery, fascinating native culture and every manner of outdoor tourism. It should be most popular place travel in on earth.”
Macdonald has had a few issues he’d like to see moving forward that he hopes Bennett will work on; in particular snowmobile and ATV registration, and recreational trails and campsites for the region.
“It’s hard to get people from the Lower Mainland to get involved... in those sorts of issues,” said Macdonald. “There are some real challenges for Bennett. My job will be to push him in the right direction.”
But Bennett also feels he has a good feel for the other part of the ministry – Arts and Culture. A self-proclaimed redneck outdoorsman, some would be surprised to learn he comes from an extremely musical family and plays three instruments himself. Bennett’s sister is an opera singer who operates a musical theatre business and his brother is a successful conductor who has worked all over the world.
“This will be an opportunity for me to broaden my horizon a bit,” he said. “I want to make sure the B.C. Arts Council pays sufficient attention to our area of the province.”