For the first time, the provincial government has imposed reservation fees to campgrounds in the semi-remote Strathcona Park area (namely Suttle Lake and Ralph River campsites).
During a recent June weekend at the Ralph River campsite, we encountered the "reserved" signs at all the best lakeside campsites. For an extra fee of $5, you could have reserved one of the campsites. You would also have to shell out an extra $5 per day, on top of the usual campsite fees, for the reservation privilege.
So for a family staying there for a week's holiday, if you reserve, the camping fee has jumped from $112 to $152 for one week. We assume that the Ralph River and Suttle Lake campsites weren't the only ones in the province so affected.
The campsite custodian appeared to be genuinely embarrassed by this new predicament, and apologized to many of the campers.
On the weekend in question, the Ralph River campsite was fairly busy; however, not one of the reserved sites was being used.
This government just doesn't seem to get it, despite its meteoric plummeting down the polls. The family-first agenda that Premier Christy Clark rode in on is as off the radar as are the communications staff who came up with this clever (and hollow) catchphrase for her.
Chris and Lynda Burnett
Courtenay
