EDITORIAL · THE 2026 ELECTION

The NDP’s outdoor recreation strategy gave no one the mandate for its roads. The Conservatives have five with the record to lead it. Meet the dream team.

In May 2026 the Province published Look West, B.C.’s outdoor recreation strategy. It sets 17 targets with no budget or dates, and Target 8, on the resource roads that recreation depends on, has no owner. No minister’s mandate letter gives anyone that job, and the BC NDP ministers and parliamentary secretary who signed and launched the strategy have not funded it or campaigned on it. Here are seven changes that would make it work, and the Conservative dream team of five whose public records on road access fit them.

Backcountry Coalition ·

Backcountry Coalition is independent. This page is not authorized by any party or candidate.

01 The Province wrote the plan and gave its most important target to nobody

On 21 May 2026 the Province published Look West: B.C.’s Outdoor Recreation Strategy, and it says in plain words that rural British Columbia’s future runs through the backcountry. It sets seventeen targets, and none of them has a budget or a completion date. Target 8, “a modernized framework for high-value recreation access and resource roads,” does not name anyone to deliver it.1

“Outdoor recreation is uniquely available to every rural community in B.C. and provides an essential opportunity for those transitioning from traditional resource sectors.”

Look West: B.C.’s Outdoor Recreation Strategy, Shared Vision, page 5

The same document admits what that future depends on. Under Target 8 it says that recreation access “depends heavily on resource roads,” and that as “the industrial base that has historically funded road maintenance continues to shrink, new solutions need to be explored.” Its only answer to the question of ownership is to “explore the establishment of a coordinating Office of Outdoor Recreation.” The strategy never names the Ministry of Forests, which holds the roads, or BC Timber Sales, which is removing them.1

Inspire Action 3 targetsGrow awareness of the value of outdoor recreation
No.What the Province says it will haveWho owns itBudgetDate
1An empowered and effective coalition of stakeholders, First Nations partners and industry aligned to support outdoor recreationnobody namednonenone
2A consistent framework to measure, track and report on the economic value of outdoor recreationnobody namednoneannually*
3A storytelling platform that showcases the value of outdoor recreationnobody namednonenone
Invest in Growth 3 targetsStrengthen the foundations of a thriving recreation economy
No.What the Province says it will haveWho owns itBudgetDate
4Grow outdoor gear and recreation-tech manufacturing in rural communities“ministries”nonenone
5Indigenous-led opportunities in B.C.’s outdoor recreation economyTourism (partner)nonenone
6Improve and coordinate recreation permitting processes across multiple provincial agencies to increase business certainty and expand opportunities for usersBC Parks / RSTBCnonenone
Deliver Experiences 4 targetsDeliver and sustain the experiences that make B.C. exceptional
No.What the Province says it will haveWho owns itBudgetDate
7A renewed, sustainable service model for BC Parks and Recreation Sites and Trails BCBC Parks / RSTBCnonenone
8A modernized framework for high-value recreation access and resource roadsnobody namednonenone
9A centralized outdoor recreation digital experience for visitors to BC Parks and Recreation Sites and Trails BCBC Parks / RSTBCnonenone
10An iconic trails program for B.C.nobody namednonenone
Support People 2 targetsSupport the people who make it happen
No.What the Province says it will haveWho owns itBudgetDate
11Dependable and diverse funding for outdoor recreation organizations“ministries”nonenone
12Indigenous involvement in outdoor recreationnobody namednonenone
Protect What We Love 5 targetsOutdoor recreation begins with stewardship
No.What the Province says it will haveWho owns itBudgetDate
13Integrated recreation planning that is community-centrednobody namednonenone
14Conservation efforts are aligned with responsible recreation use and growthnobody namednoneby 2030*
15A coordinated framework for responsible recreation“ministries”nonenone
16A provincial visitor-use management frameworknobody namednonenone
17Strengthened outdoor recreation monitoring, compliance and enforcement“ministries”nonenone
No target carries a budget, and none carries a date by which it is finished. The two dates marked * are not deadlines: Target 2 promises to report results annually, and Target 14 repeats the existing goal of protecting 30% of B.C. by 2030. Target 5 names a ministry only as a partner, three targets hand the work to BC Parks or Recreation Sites and Trails BC, which are branches rather than ministries, and four point at “ministries” without saying which ones. Nine targets name no one at all, and Target 8 is one of the nine.

02 The Ministry of Forests is removing the roads the plan depends on

The Ministry of Forests is responsible for about 60,000 kilometres of forest service road, and the minister told the House in April 2025 that “roughly 12,000 are roads and sections of roads that we are actively maintaining.” He said that many others are “just left to erode” once industry is finished with them. The maintenance budget is $16.5 million for 2025–26, and the minister said the amount for 2026–27 is “the same as last year.”2

The Auditor General audited that network in 2020 and found it underfunded at the source. In 2019–20 the districts asked for $40.2 million to maintain their roads and were given $5.5 million, and high-value recreation roads made up $8.5 million of a $21.5 million request for the priority roads. Nearly half of the province’s bridges and other crossing structures were overdue for inspection.3

The removals are already scheduled. BC Timber Sales plans 556 kilometres of permanent deactivation in the Cariboo-Chilcotin district over two fiscal years, with the stated objective “to limit automobile access.”4 The contract to deactivate the Rady Creek road out of Trout Lake went to tender in September,5 1,500 people petitioned the Legislature against the deactivation of the Incomappleux Forest Service Road,6 and the Selkirk district has posted Sitkum Creek FSR for deactivation in June 2027 in a notice of fifty-one words that contains no engineering assessment, map or cost estimate.7

When a member asked what landowners up the Incomappleux could rely on, the Minister of Forests told the House plainly that “there’s buyer beware.”8 The Selkirk district’s published FAQ on that road gives a rockfall-damaged bridge and “no funding to do repairs or maintenance” as its reasons, and says the work will go ahead “because it is obligated to relieve itself of liability.”9 The plan says that these roads are the way into rural B.C.’s future, and the ministry that holds them is taking them out, one road at a time.

03 The people who wrote the plan have not stood behind it

Look West is the work of a BC NDP government. Tamara Davidson signed its Minister’s Message, and on launch day the Province quoted two more ministers and a parliamentary secretary beside her.1, 10 The roads the plan depends on are held by another minister, and the plan is published as part of the Premier’s Look West economic strategy.10 Each of the six has a public record from before and after 21 May, and each record below includes the parts that cut the other way.

Portrait of Tamara Davidson

Tamara DavidsonNorth Coast-Haida Gwaii · Minister of Environment and Parks

Tamara Davidson signed the plan, and had told the House the roads were another ministry’s job

Signed the strategy

Her name is on the Minister’s Message at page 4, which lists “the need for prudent fiscal management” among the pressures the Province has to face.1 At the launch she said the strategy “reflects a shared commitment to making outdoor experiences more accessible and enduring.”10

Thirteen months earlier, in her own estimates, she was asked whether there would be money for access to parks, recreation sites and trails. She answered that “the Ministry of Forests is the one that has the responsibility for the roads,” and invited members to “canvass the Minister of Forests.”11 Three months after the launch, Recreation Sites and Trails BC, an agency of her ministry, declined the Trout Lake Recreational Club’s application to take on the Rady Creek road. As the BC Snowmobile Federation records it, the agency said that its authority “generally does not extend to resource roads such as Forest Service Roads.”12

Her ministry’s Conservation and Recreation Division falls from $98.9 million to $93.0 million in 2026–27, and its service plan gives the ministry’s recreation goal no performance measure yet.13 In the same answer in April 2025, she also said that her ministry works with the Ministry of Forests to prioritize the roads into recreation sites, and that “we’re supporting the road maintenance and the road access through that.”11

Portrait of Anne Kang

Anne KangBurnaby Centre · Minister of Tourism, Arts, Culture and Sport

Anne Kang launched the plan, and passed a question about funding trail volunteers to another ministry

Quoted at the launch

At the launch in Kamloops on 21 May, she said the strategy “will help communities to diversify their economies, draw visitors, and build long-term resilience.”10

Five weeks earlier, on 13 April 2026, a member asked in her estimates whether her ministry would give direct financial support to the non-profits that keep the province’s parks and trails safe and operational. The member’s question itself asked whether her ministry would work with Environment and Parks. She answered that a branch of that ministry works with communities on those issues, said “we will continue to work with my colleague in Environment and Parks,” and the committee rose for the day without a funding answer.14 In the same answer she said that the government tries to strike a balance so that “the accessibility to land benefits both locals and tourism.”14

Portrait of Ravi Kahlon

Ravi KahlonDelta North · Minister of Jobs and Economic Growth at the launch

Ravi Kahlon brought the launch-day money, from a fund budgeted at $15 million a year

Quoted at the launch

At the launch he said that through the Rural Economic Diversification and Infrastructure Program, “we are creating more jobs and strengthening rural communities.” The release announced almost $1.5 million for three projects, including almost $400,000 for a new snowmobile-trail bridge at McBride, which is the kind of access work the plan calls for.10

The same release counted $142 million through that program since 2022–23,10 while his ministry’s service plan sets the program’s allocation at $15 million a year from 2025–26 to 2028–29.15 None of that money went to the Target 8 framework, and he is not on Elections BC’s list of candidates for 24 October.10, 16

Portrait of Steve Morissette

Steve MorissetteKootenay-Monashee · Parliamentary Secretary for Rural Development

Steve Morissette spoke for rural B.C. at the launch, and the House record holds no word from him on its roads

Quoted at the launch

At the launch he said, “Outdoor recreation is such a draw for people, both here in the Kootenays and in rural communities across the province,” and the rest of his quote was about the KORE program at the College of the Rockies for creating, repairing and upcycling outdoor gear.10

The Premier’s letter appointing him in November 2024 gives him no priorities of his own.17 In 72 speaking turns in the last parliament he used none of the thirteen road-access terms we counted.18 On 6 July 2026 the BC Snowmobile Federation recorded lobbying him, together with Davidson, Kang and Parmar, on “road deactivation, maintenance, and access to established recreation areas.” The public registry entry shows that the subject was raised with him, but it does not show what, if anything, he said to them in reply.19

Portrait of Ravi Parmar

Ravi ParmarLangford-Highlands · Minister of Forests

Ravi Parmar holds the roads the plan depends on, and his road capital is not earmarked for recreation

Holds the roads

The strategy never names his ministry, but it holds the forest service roads that Target 8 depends on.1 On 9 April 2025 he gave the House his ministry’s road capital, $20.3 million and $47.83 million, and added, “these are dollars not for rec sites or for recreation.” He described the money as serving “that entire integrated approach,” including remote communities and First Nations. The next morning, in the same estimates, he said, “It’s not always feasible for the province to maintain all resource roads in perpetuity.”20

The “buyer beware” answer in section 02 is his, and the Rady Creek deactivation went to tender under his ministry in September, four months after the launch.8, 5 He has also told the House that the road maintenance budget rose from $6.1 million in 2022–23 to $16.5 million in 2025–26.20

Portrait of David Eby

David EbyVancouver-Point Grey · Premier and BC NDP leader

David Eby’s government launched the plan under his economic banner, and his party’s 33 campaign releases have not mentioned it

Leads the government

The government’s launch release of 21 May describes the strategy as part of the Province’s “Look West plan to grow key sectors and strengthen the economy.”10

From the writ on 22 September to 8 October, the BC NDP posted 33 campaign releases. The words “Look West” appear in none of them, and none mentions outdoor recreation, the backcountry, resource roads or Crown land. The party’s record page, “Action for You,” lists “More access to B.C. Parks” and says nothing about resource roads.21

In May 2025 he told the House that for communities whose only way in and out is a forest service road, “support for road maintenance and capital upgrade funding is important,” and he pointed to the increase in Budget 2024.22

Portraits · Province of British Columbia, Legislative Assembly and BC NDP pages

Measured against the plan’s hardest target, the record is the same for all six. Target 8 has no budget, no date and no owner, and on money for the clubs and volunteers who maintain recreation infrastructure, the launch release committed to “exploring new funding approaches.”1, 10 No mandate letter gives anyone the job either. Ravi Parmar’s letter of 16 January 2025 does not mention a road or recreation, Tamara Davidson’s of the same date asks her to increase families’ access to parks “in a cost-efficient manner” and does not mention roads, and Steve Morissette’s appointment letter sets him no priorities. All three letters predate the strategy, and the strategy itself names no owner for the roads.23 The one sum announced that day, almost $1.5 million, went to three projects, and none of it went to the road framework.10 Six weeks later four of the six were lobbied on road deactivation and maintenance,19 and in September the Rady Creek road went to tender.5 None of the party’s 33 campaign releases names the strategy at all.21

04 A Conservative mandate should make seven changes so that the plan works

The Conservative Party’s own Policy Declaration already says that “British Columbians deserve guaranteed access to public lands and wild areas,” and that there should be “open access” for hunting, fishing and trapping on Crown land “in co-operation with the BC Forest Service.”24 A guarantee needs machinery behind it. These seven changes would give the strategy an owner, money, rules and a public record, and each one answers a problem that is already documented. All seven serve Target 8, the target on which the plan says recreation access depends, and item 4 also serves Target 11, the plan’s promise of dependable funding for the groups that maintain recreation infrastructure.1

  1. Give Target 8 a named minister, a budget line and dates. Look West has none of the three, and an office that is only to be “explored” cannot be held to anything.1 The mandate letter should name the minister who answers for recreation access on resource roads.
  2. Review every recreation-used road before it is deactivated. No road that people use to reach recreation should be removed until its engineering, its cost and the cost of keeping it have been published. The minister twice gave the House no count of the roads being pulled,2 and Sitkum Creek is scheduled on fifty-one words.7
  3. Create a recreation-road maintenance fund. The districts were given $5.5 million of the $40.2 million they asked for,3 and the budget is flat for 2026–27.2 The Policy Declaration’s transportation chapter names eleven bridge and highway projects and no resource road, so this is a commitment the mandate should add.24
  4. Let clubs and communities take on the roads they use. Local groups offered to maintain the roads around Trout Lake and were told the offer would not be considered,25 and the Selkirk district says it will deactivate the Incomappleux road even if someone applies for the land under the Land Act.9 The plan’s own Target 11 says that “volunteers and community groups are the heart of outdoor recreation in B.C.”1 At Sitkum Creek, three Nelson Sno-Goers and an $8,000 grant from the Columbia Basin Trust put the access back in place in 2016.7
  5. Publish the reason, the count and the map for every closure. The minister’s “long-term vision” of a website listing every forest service road should become a deadline, together with a public count of the roads and bridges that are removed in each year, starting with the first year of the mandate.2
  6. Use the liability law the Province already passed. Since 25 June 2012, section 3.1 of the Occupiers Liability Act has deemed every person who uses a resource road to have willingly assumed its risks, and the government that passed it announced it as “More backcountry roads to be kept open.”26 In April 2025 the Selkirk district wrote that “the province cannot release liability through the use of a sign.”9 Liability should stop being the reason a road is destroyed, and the full case is in the law everyone forgot.
  7. Put local knowledge into land-use decisions. The people who use a road should be heard before it is closed, and the district should answer them in writing. Lorne Doerkson made the same case for wildfire response in his 2021 Motion 17: “We need to better utilize local and Indigenous knowledge.”27

05 The Conservative dream team has a proven record on access

Five Conservative candidates have already done, in public, the work this mandate asks for. Each has put a road question on the record, tabled a petition or forced a document into public view, and each proof point below links directly to the public record it rests on.

  • Portrait of Lorne Doerkson

    Lorne DoerksonCariboo-Chilcotin · interim party leader

    Tabled a petition from 94 residents demanding repairs to the Canim Lake South and Mahood Lake roads, 14 April 2026. See the record.27

  • Portrait of Ward Stamer

    Ward StamerKamloops-North Thompson · Forests critic to dissolution

    Asked the Minister of Forests for “a list of kilometres and bridges” deactivated and planned, 9 April 2025. See the record.2

  • Portrait of Scott McInnis

    Scott McInnisColumbia River-Revelstoke

    Tabled a petition from 1,500 people against deactivating the Incomappleux Forest Service Road, 28 May 2026. See the record.6

  • Portrait of Donegal Wilson

    Donegal WilsonBoundary-Similkameen

    Named Rady Creek in Forests estimates and asked why a road is destroyed when a sign would do, 12 March 2026. See the record.8

  • Portrait of Warren Mirko

    Warren MirkoKootenay-Monashee

    His Public Land Use Society demanded a stop-work order on the Incomappleux road and published the district’s letter, 4 June 2026. See the record.28

Five more Conservative candidates have records that fit parts of the mandate, and all ten records are set out in full below. Every person below is on Elections BC’s list of 9 October as the Conservative Party of BC candidate in their riding,16 and every fact about them comes from the public record. Each entry says what the person did before politics and in the House, and which part of the mandate that experience fits.

Portrait of Lorne Doerkson

Lorne DoerksonCariboo-Chilcotin · interim party leader

Lorne Doerkson asked where the money for forest roads was in 2021

Mandate items 3, 2 and 7

His party page says he spent twenty years as a newspaper publisher, and that he has been a small-business owner, a Rotary president and a rodeo announcer in the Cariboo.29 In committee on the forests bill in November 2021 he asked whether declaring a road a forest service road would bring “any new investments or more money for the maintenance of those forest service roads,” and the minister answered that it “is not identified anywhere in this bill.” In February 2025 he told the House that for fire crews heading up a dirt road, finding the road deactivated “is very frightening.”27

He has called himself “an outdoorsman” in the House, and in 2024, on the proposed Land Act amendments, he put it in four words: “The fear is access.”30 His Motion 17 asked the Province to use local knowledge in wildfire response, and he tabled petitions for rural roads in his riding as late as April 2026.27 If his party forms government, he would be the premier who signs the mandate letter that item 1 asks for.

Portrait of Ward Stamer

Ward StamerKamloops-North Thompson · Forests critic to dissolution

Ward Stamer asked for the count of roads being pulled and was given none

Mandate items 5, 2 and 3

His party page says he spent about 45 years working in B.C.’s forest industry, and he was elected mayor of Barriere in 2018.29 As the Conservative critic for Forests until dissolution, he used the language of road access in 23 of his 484 speaking turns, counted across every 43rd Parliament transcript, which is more than any other member.18 On 9 April 2025 he asked for “a list of kilometres and bridges” deactivated and planned, and the minister said, “we don’t have a specific answer.” The next morning he asked whether the public could “engage before these decisions are made.”2

He called these “roads that are owned by the public,” and when ministers pleaded a lack of money he answered that “the answer is that you have a responsibility.”2 His questions are the outline of items 5 and 2 of the mandate.

Portrait of Scott McInnis

Scott McInnisColumbia River-Revelstoke

Scott McInnis took the Incomappleux to the House and then stood on the road

Mandate items 2 and 4

He is a teacher and principal, and his party page says his family are keen outdoor people who hunt and fly-fish in the East Kootenay.29 In question period in the House on 8 May 2025 he asked why back-country users’ access was “being cut off at an alarming rate,” and on 28 May 2026 he presented a petition of 1,500 people against deactivating the Incomappleux Forest Service Road.6

On 8 July 2026 he spent the day at Trout Lake with more than seventy road users while the provincial ministers who were invited stayed away, and the same day’s account records that local groups’ offers to maintain the roads were refused.25 That is the case for items 2 and 4.

Portrait of Donegal Wilson

Donegal WilsonBoundary-Similkameen

Donegal Wilson asked why a road is torn out when a sign would do

Mandate items 6, 4 and 3

She was raised on a cattle ranch near Tulameen, and before politics she spent more than a decade as executive director of the BC Snowmobile Federation.29 On 12 March 2026 she asked the Minister of Forests why a road is re-sloped and stripped of its bridges when a “Use at your own risk” sign would do, and asked, “Why are there those two levels of deactivation?” She named Rady Creek as her example, which is the only time anyone said those two words anywhere in the House during that whole parliament.8

In April 2025 she told the House that recreation clubs were being asked for a $10,000 deposit and a $50,000 bridge before they could keep a road, and she asked whether there would be “funding in the budget for access trails to parks, rec sites and trails.”11 Her questions lead straight to items 6, 4 and 3.

Portrait of Sharon Hartwell

Sharon HartwellBulkley Valley-Stikine

Sharon Hartwell asked why evacuation roads are not maintained

Mandate item 3

Her party page says she served on Telkwa’s village council, then spent twelve years as mayor and represented small communities at UBCM.29 In May 2026 she asked about old forestry and access roads that serve as escape routes: “Why are they not being maintained so that if there’s going to be an evacuation route, we have something that’s in a decent enough state so communities can be evacuated?” In 2025 she asked the Premier to commit to repairs on the Babine Lake and Suskwa resource roads.31 Her record makes the safety case for item 3.

Portrait of Gavin Dew

Gavin DewKelowna-Mission

Gavin Dew asked the minister to let volunteers maintain a forest road

Mandate item 4

His party page describes two decades in business, public policy and technology, including a seat on the board of the Business Council of British Columbia.29 In Forests estimates on 9 April 2025 he asked the minister to support a volunteer trail society that was seeking permission “to improve and maintain a section of a quite substantially used forest service road” at its own cost, so that trail users could reach their parking.31 That is item 4 in practice.

Portrait of Sheldon Clare

Sheldon ClarePrince George-North Cariboo

Sheldon Clare asked the minister to justify closing a park to the public

Mandate items 5 and 7

He has taught at the College of New Caledonia since 1993, and his party page says he is a past multi-term president of the Prince George Rod and Gun Club and a three-term chair of the Alpine Club of Canada’s Prince George section.29 In April 2026 he asked the Minister of Environment and Parks, “Could the minister please explain, on record, the justification for closing a public provincial park to the public?”31 Asking for the reason on the record is item 5, and his years of club work are the local knowledge that item 7 of the mandate asks for.

Portrait of Kiel Giddens

Kiel GiddensPrince George-Mackenzie

Kiel Giddens said deactivation was cutting people off from the backcountry

Mandate items 2 and 7

His party page says he spent more than a decade on Northern projects, including the work that brought a new LNG industry to B.C., and that he is a past president of the Prince George Chamber of Commerce.29 In April 2026 debate on BC Timber Sales amendments he said that road deactivation after logging meant “we’re having people cut off from the back country.” In 2025 he asked that park planning “be really thorough, to make sure that park closures don’t happen.”31 Both remarks fit items 2 and 7.

Portrait of Trevor Halford

Trevor HalfordSurrey-White Rock

Trevor Halford asked for assurance that a public park would keep its existing use

Mandate item 5

He was first elected for Surrey-White Rock in 2020, and his party page says he was most recently the party’s shadow minister for transportation and infrastructure.29 His record is on parks, not roads: in committee on a 2025 parks bill he asked the minister to “provide assurance that Kilby Park will remain protected for its existing use of the lands,” and whether its campground could be closed and the land used for other purposes.31 Asking for that assurance on the record is what item 5 would make routine for every road and park closure.

Portrait of Warren Mirko

Warren MirkoKootenay-Monashee · never held provincial office

Warren Mirko built a public record on the roads without holding a seat

Mandate items 2 and 5

His party page describes a public affairs consultant with more than fifteen years in public relations and risk management, and he is a councillor in the Village of Warfield.29 As the founder and executive director of the Public Land Use Society, he joined ATVBC in Nakusp on 4 June 2026 publicly to demand a stop-work order on the Incomappleux road, and the release printed the Selkirk district’s own letter telling a landowner that the work “will permanently remove road access to your private property.”28

His society has also published freedom-of-information records on provincial land negotiations, and it says in its own words that “four-wheel drive access is what makes Crown land usable.”31 A stop-work demand is item 2, and forcing the Province’s own letters into public view is item 5.

Portraits · Conservative Party of BC candidate and MLA pages

06 The Conservative record does not yet contain a costed promise on access

A fair reader should see the gaps as clearly as the strengths. Of the releases the Conservative Party posted between 23 September and 8 October, none mentions hunting, angling, Crown land or backcountry roads.32 The written promise to “reactivate any unnecessary closures” and “repair roads where necessary” was made by Kerry-Lynne Findlay on 31 July, and Lorne Doerkson has not yet repeated it in his own name.33

Most of the records above were made by members asking questions in opposition, and asking is not the same as governing. Questions from opposition did not stop the Rady Creek tender, which went out six months after Donegal Wilson raised the road in the House.8, 5 The party has not put a dollar figure on road maintenance in this campaign.32 That is why the mandate has to be written down before the vote.

07 Ask the Conservatives to adopt this mandate in writing before 24 October

A campaign promise binds nobody after polling day, but a named minister, a budget line and a date can be checked a year from now. The letter below asks the Conservative Party to adopt the seven changes in its leader’s name. The leaders’ debate is on 14 October, and advance voting runs from 16 to 21 October.34

  1. Copy the letter.
  2. Open your email. It is addressed.
  3. Paste, edit and send. Your own words are better than ours.

Then ask the candidates in your own riding, because that is where the answer counts. The every-candidate map lists who is running in your riding and what each of them has on the record. The address below is the one the party publishes itself.

New message
Copy first — the letter is too long for an email link 2Open email
To
media@conservativebc.ca
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contact@backcountry.cx
SubjectSeven commitments to make Look West work: will a Conservative government adopt them all, in writing?

To Lorne Doerkson and the Conservative Party of BC, and to the Conservative candidate in my riding,

I am a voter who reaches public land on forest service roads, and I would like a written answer from you before 24 October.

On 21 May 2026 the Province published Look West: B.C.'s Outdoor Recreation Strategy. It says outdoor recreation is how rural B.C. gets through the end of the forestry economy, and in Target 8 it says that recreation access depends heavily on resource roads that the shrinking forest industry no longer maintains. None of its seventeen targets has a budget or a date, and Target 8 names no one to deliver it.

Your Policy Declaration says that British Columbians deserve guaranteed access to public lands and wild areas. I am asking you to put seven commitments behind that guarantee, in your leader's own name, before the vote.

1. Name the minister who will own Target 8, and give that work a budget line and dates.

2. Publish the engineering, the cost and the cost of keeping the road before any recreation-used forest service road is ever deactivated by anyone.

3. Create a maintenance fund for recreation roads. In 2019-20 the districts asked for $40.2 million to maintain their roads and were given $5.5 million.

4. Let clubs and communities take on the roads they use, rather than refusing.

5. Publish the reason, the count and the map for every road closure.

6. Apply section 3.1 of the Occupiers Liability Act, in force since 2012, so liability is no longer a reason to destroy a road.

7. Require districts to hear the people who use a road, and to answer them in writing, before it is closed.

Several of your candidates have already asked these questions in the Legislature. I would like to know whether a Conservative government will act on them.

Please answer yes or no to each of the seven commitments, and give a name, a number and a date wherever you can.

Sent to the address the Conservative Party of BC publishes, read 6 October 2026

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These seven images are made to be posted, and each carries part of the story: the plan with no owner, the ministry’s record, the people who wrote the plan, the mandate in brief, the people who can carry it, what their record does not yet show, and the ask.

Suggested caption

The NDP’s outdoor recreation strategy gave no one the mandate for its roads. The Conservatives have five with the record to lead it. On 21 May the Province published Look West: B.C.’s Outdoor Recreation Strategy, and it says rural B.C.’s future runs through the backcountry. Its 17 targets have no budget and no date, and Target 8 names no minister and no ministry that will deliver it.

The roads are going. The Ministry of Forests actively maintains about 12,000 of its 60,000 km of forest service road. About 556 km are scheduled for deactivation in the Cariboo-Chilcotin, Rady Creek went to tender, and the minister told landowners up the Incomappleux that there’s “buyer beware.” Nobody has published a count of what has already been lost.

The people who wrote the plan have not stood behind it. Tamara Davidson signed it, and Anne Kang, Ravi Kahlon and Steve Morissette launched it with her. A year earlier Davidson told the House the roads were the Ministry of Forests’ job, and the Minister of Forests said his road money is “not for rec sites or for recreation.” “Look West” appears in none of the BC NDP’s 33 campaign releases. In our view, the party that wrote the plan is not confident enough to deliver it.

Here is the mandate that would make the plan work: a named minister, a budget and dates for Target 8; a published review before any recreation road is deactivated; a maintenance fund; clubs and communities allowed to take roads on; the reason, count and map for every closure; the 2012 liability law applied; and local knowledge put into land-use decisions.

The Conservative dream team of Lorne Doerkson, Ward Stamer, Scott McInnis, Donegal Wilson and Warren Mirko has a proven record on access, and five more Conservative candidates have records that fit the mandate. The record also shows what is still missing: the party has not yet made a costed promise on road access.

Ask the Conservatives to adopt the mandate in writing before 24 October. The letter is ready to send.

backcountry.cx/editorials/the-strategy-and-the-ballot/

#BCpoli #BCelection #PublicLand #ResourceRoads

Sources

  1. ↩ Ministry of Environment and Parks, Look West: B.C.’s Outdoor Recreation Strategy, published 21 May 2026 — 36 pages, Minister’s Message at page 4 signed “Honourable Tamara Davidson, Minister of Environment and Parks.” The seventeen targets, their priorities, their actions and the three right-hand columns of the table are extracted from this PDF rather than retyped. Target 8 is at page 21, Target 11 at page 27 (“Volunteers and community groups are the heart of outdoor recreation in B.C.”), Target 1 at page 13, “A critical moment for outdoor recreation” at page 8, and the definition and scope at page 8. The only dollar figures in the document are the $4.8 billion contribution and one trail society’s $150,000 a year, and the only calendar year is 2030, under Target 14. The strings “Ministry of Forests,” “BC Timber Sales,” “forest service road” and “deactivation” do not occur in the text. Link
  2. ↩ Hansard, 43rd Parliament, Ministry of Forests estimates — Issue 38, evening of 9 April 2025: Ward Stamer’s request for “a list of kilometres and bridges,” the reply “we don’t have a specific answer,” the minister’s statement that “roughly 12,000 are roads and sections of roads that we are actively maintaining” of about 60,000 kilometres and that many are “just left to erode,” and Stamer’s “roads that are owned by the public” and “the answer is that you have a responsibility”; Issue 39, morning of 10 April 2025, his question on public engagement; and Issue 141, 12 March 2026, the maintenance budget of $16.5 million for 2025–26, the 2026–27 amount “the same as last year,” the “long-term vision” of a website listing every forest service road, and no count of deactivations at all. 9 April · 10 April · 12 March 2026
  3. ↩ Office of the Auditor General of British Columbia, Management of Forest Service Roads, November 2020, released January 2021 — Exhibit 8, p. 39 (for 2019/20: $40.2 million requested, $5.5 million allocated); Exhibit 9, p. 40 (high-value recreation roads $8.5 million of a $21.5 million priority request); and pp. 31–35 on crossing structures (3,178 structures, 48 per cent, overdue for inspection). The audit is set out finding by finding in our piece on the audit. Read the report
  4. ↩ Province of British Columbia, Cariboo-Chilcotin road safety information, read 6 October 2026 — “BCTS Road Deactivation Project #1 (fiscal years 2026-2027 and 2027-2028)”: approximately 556 km of permanent deactivation work under s.121(9) of the Forest Act, the stated objectives including “to limit automobile access,” and the reassignment condition. Link
  5. ↩ CTV News, “Recreational users call for province to stop deactivation of Rady Creek Forest Service Road” — the deactivation contract was out for bids until 24 September 2026. CTV News story
  6. ↩ Hansard, 43rd Parliament — Issue 59, morning of 8 May 2025, Scott McInnis’s oral question on back-country closures; and Issue 187, morning of 28 May 2026, 11:20 a.m., his petition on behalf of 1,500 people against the deactivation of the Incomappleux Forest Service Road. 8 May 2025 · 28 May 2026
  7. ↩ Selkirk Natural Resource District, road safety information, § Road deactivations, read 27 September 2026 — the Sitkum Creek FSR entry scheduling deactivation for June 2027; Nelson Star, 20 September 2016, “Bridge to the bush: Snowmobiler restores beloved trail”; and Columbia Basin Trust, “Sitkum Creek Recreation Trail,” $8,000 committed to the Nelson Sno-Goers in 2016/17. The full record is in our piece on Sitkum Creek. Notice · Nelson Star · Trust
  8. ↩ Hansard, 43rd Parliament, Issue 141, 12 March 2026, Ministry of Forests estimates — Donegal Wilson on the “Use at your own risk” sign and “those two levels of deactivation,” her naming of Rady Creek, and the minister’s reply on the Incomappleux: “Without a doubt, there’s buyer beware.” No other House transcript of that parliament contains the words “Rady Creek.” Link
  9. ↩ Selkirk Natural Resource District, Ministry of Forests, “Frequently Asked Questions – Incomappleux Forest Service Road Deactivation,” April 2025, file 11250-30/3397, read 9 October 2026 — question 1 on the rockfall that damaged the crevice bridge; question 2, closure “with the intent to deactivate it as there is no funding to do repairs or maintenance”; question 9, “The province cannot release liability through the use of a sign”; and question 14, that the district will continue its deactivation plans “regardless of if an application is made under the Land Act, because it is obligated to relieve itself of liability.” FAQ
  10. ↩ BC Gov News, “Look West: B.C.’s Outdoor Recreation Strategy, a first-of-its-kind approach,” release 2026ENV0024-000574, Kamloops, 21 May 2026, Ministry of Environment and Parks — the quotes from Tamara Davidson, Ravi Kahlon as Minister of Jobs and Economic Growth, Anne Kang and Steve Morissette; the statement that the strategy “commits to exploring new funding approaches” for clubs and volunteers; almost $1.5 million from the Rural Economic Diversification and Infrastructure Program for three projects ($1 million for a circular-manufacturing and gear-repair centre at College of the Rockies, $100,000 for a study by the Outdoor Recreation Council of BC, and almost $400,000 for the Renshaw snowmobile-trail bridge at McBride); $142 million through that program since 2022–23; and the strategy described as “part of the Province’s Look West plan to grow key sectors and strengthen the economy.” The body of the release does not contain the word “road.” Link
  11. ↩ Hansard, 43rd Parliament, Issue 37, 8 April 2025, Ministry of Environment and Parks estimates — Donegal Wilson on the $10,000 deposit and $50,000 bridge asked of clubs, and on funding for access to parks and trails; and Tamara Davidson’s two answers at 4:30 and 4:35 p.m., “The Ministry of Forests is the one that has the responsibility for the roads,” “we’re supporting the road maintenance and the road access through that,” and “I would welcome the members to canvass the Minister of Forests.” She is attributed in the transcript as Hon. Laanas / Tamara Davidson. Hansard transcript
  12. ↩ BC Snowmobile Federation, Nicole Matei, “BC Wants to Grow Outdoor Recreation. So Why Are We Removing Access?”, 24 August 2026: “Recreation Sites and Trails BC stated they declined the Trout Lake Recreational Club’s application because its authority to authorize recreation trails generally does not extend to resource roads such as Forest Service Roads.” This is the federation’s account of what the agency stated; no decision letter is public. The agency’s place in the Ministry of Environment and Parks is set out in our piece on the rest of the cabinet. Link
  13. ↩ Ministry of Environment and Parks, 2026/27–2028/29 Service Plan, Budget 2026 — the Conservation and Recreation Division at $98.936 million in the 2025/26 estimates and $93.018 million in 2026/27, held at $93.019 million for the two plan years; and the statement that “the ministry is finalizing a new performance measure this year for Goal 2,” the goal covering protected areas, recreation sites and trail networks. Link
  14. ↩ Hansard, 43rd Parliament, Issue 150, 13 April 2026, Ministry of Tourism, Arts, Culture and Sport estimates — Jeremy Valeriote’s question on direct financial support for the non-profits that keep parks and trails “safe, clean and operational,” and Anne Kang’s answer naming “the recreation sites and trails branch” of the Ministry of Environment and Parks, followed at once by her motion that the committee rise. Link
  15. ↩ Ministry of Jobs and Economic Growth, 2026/27–2028/29 Service Plan, Budget 2026 — performance measure 1.c, 740 jobs a year through provincial investment programs including the Rural Economic Diversification and Infrastructure Program, with the note that “the forecast/targets are based on a $15M annual program allocation between FY25/26 and FY28/29.” Link
  16. ↩ Elections BC, 2026 Provincial General Election — candidate list, the CSV read on 9 October 2026 (354 rows). Each of the ten people in section 05 is listed there under the affiliation “Conservative Party.” Link
  17. ↩ Office of the Premier, letter appointing Steve Morissette Parliamentary Secretary for Rural Development in the Ministry of Finance, 18 November 2024 — two pages, deferring his direction to ministers’ mandate letters, with no priorities of his own. Link
  18. ↩ Backcountry Coalition, count of road-access language in the House — every transcript of the 43rd Parliament, Issues 1 to 188 (18 February 2025 to 28 May 2026), split into speaking turns and tested for thirteen road-access terms. The method is published with the every-candidate map, and all 23 of Ward Stamer’s turns are listed in our piece on Ward Stamer. The same count gives Steve Morissette 72 speaking turns, none of them containing any of the thirteen terms.
  19. ↩ Office of the Registrar of Lobbyists for British Columbia, Lobbying Activity Report 572-54398, British Columbia Snowmobile Federation, lobbying activity of 6 July 2026 — the members lobbied were Tamara Davidson, Anne Kang, Scott McInnis, Steve Morissette and Ravi Parmar, on “Public recreation access and resource roads”, including “Forest Service Roads/resource roads, road deactivation, maintenance, and access to established recreation areas.” Link
  20. ↩ Hansard, 43rd Parliament, Ravi Parmar in Ministry of Forests estimates — Issue 38, evening of 9 April 2025, the $20.3 million and $47.83 million of road capital and “these are dollars not for rec sites or for recreation”; Issue 39, morning of 10 April 2025, “It’s not always feasible for the province to maintain all resource roads in perpetuity”; and Issue 141, 12 March 2026, the road maintenance budget raised “from $6.1 million in the 2022-2023 fiscal year to $16½ million in 2025-2026.” 9 April · 10 April · Issue 141, the afternoon sitting of 12 March 2026
  21. ↩ BC NDP, every campaign release on bcndp.ca from 22 September to 8 October 2026, 33 in all, each read in full on 9 and 10 October, and the party’s record page “Action for You.” None of the 33 contains “Look West,” “outdoor recreation,” “backcountry,” “resource road,” “forest service road” or “Crown land.” Media centre · Action for You
  22. ↩ Hansard, 43rd Parliament, Issue 72, 28 May 2025, Office of the Premier estimates — David Eby: “The Minister of Forests is responsible for forestry roads”, and for communities whose sole access is such a road, “support for road maintenance and capital upgrade funding is important,” citing the increase in Budget 2024–2025. Link
  23. ↩ Office of the Premier, mandate letters — to Ravi Parmar, Minister of Forests, 16 January 2025, reprinted as Appendix B of the Ministry of Forests 2026/27–2028/29 Service Plan, which contains neither “road” nor “recreation”; to Tamara Davidson, Minister of Environment and Parks, 16 January 2025, reprinted as Appendix A of her ministry’s service plan, whose only access priority reads “Find ways to increase access for families to British Columbia’s parks in a cost-efficient manner” and which does not contain “road”; and the Premier’s letter of 18 November 2024 appointing Steve Morissette, which sets no priorities of his own. Forests · Environment and Parks · Morissette letter
  24. ↩ Conservative Party of BC, Policy Declaration, adopted at the annual general meeting in Nanaimo on 1 March 2025 (21 pages, 19 articles) — §11.12(a), p. 13, “British Columbians deserve guaranteed access to public lands and wild areas, including hunting and fishing rights”; §11.13(g), p. 13, “in co-operation with the BC Forest Service, there is open access through a variety of methods for hunting, fishing and trapping on all provincial Crown lands”; and Article 13, Transportation, pp. 15–17, which names eleven bridge and highway projects and no resource road. Link
  25. ↩ Public Land Use Society, release of 9 July 2026, “Province Poised to Cut Off Access to Homes, Private Property, and Public Lands in the Incomappleux Valley” — the 8 July field day at Trout Lake, the Incomappleux and Rady Creek with more than seventy participants, the note that MLA Scott McInnis took part and that provincial ministers and senior officials were invited but declined, and the account of local offers to maintain the roads being told they would not be considered. Link
  26. ↩ Occupiers Liability Act, RSBC 1996 c. 337, s. 3.1, enacted by S.B.C. 2012 c. 14 and in force since 25 June 2012; and Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations, news release of 28 June 2012, “More backcountry roads to be kept open.” The full case is in the law everyone forgot. Act · News release
  27. ↩ Hansard, Lorne Doerkson — Issue 116, 26 October 2021, “I am an outdoorsman”; Issue 113, 25 October 2021, Motion 17, “We need to better utilize local and Indigenous knowledge”; Issue 130, 16 November 2021, committee on Bill 23, his question on maintenance money and the answer that it “is not identified anywhere in this bill”; Issue 9, 25 February 2025, on fire crews finding a road deactivated; and Issue 151, 14 April 2026, his petition from residents on the Canim Lake South and Mahood Lake roads. His record is set out in our piece on Lorne Doerkson and scored in where the parties stand. Bill 23 · Motion 17 · 2025 · 2026
  28. ↩ Public Land Use Society and the Quad Riders Association of British Columbia (ATVBC), joint release of 4 June 2026, Nakusp — the call for a stop-work order on the Incomappleux road and the Selkirk district’s written statement to a landowner that the work “will permanently remove road access to your private property.” His record is in our piece on Warren Mirko. Link
  29. ↩ Conservative Party of BC, candidate pages, each read on 9 October 2026, for the background of every person in section 05. Doerkson · Stamer · McInnis · Wilson · Hartwell · Dew · Clare · Giddens · Halford · Mirko
  30. ↩ Northern Beat, Rob Shaw, 2 February 2024 — Lorne Doerkson, then the BC United critic, on the proposed Land Act amendments: “The fear is access.” Link
  31. ↩ Backcountry Coalition, candidate access record, built 9 October 2026 and published riding by riding on the every-candidate map. Used here: Sharon Hartwell, Hansard Issue 181, 21 May 2026, and Issue 72, 28 May 2025; Gavin Dew, Hansard Issue 38, 9 April 2025; Sheldon Clare, Hansard Issue 159, 21 April 2026; Kiel Giddens, Hansard Issue 153, 15 April 2026, and Issue 37, 8 April 2025; Trevor Halford, Hansard Issue 10, 26 February 2025; and Warren Mirko, society releases of 12 March and 19 May 2026. Hartwell · Dew · Clare · Giddens · Halford
  32. ↩ Conservative Party of BC, every release on its own site dated 23 September to 8 October 2026, read in full on 9 October; none mentions hunting, angling, Crown land or backcountry roads. Link
  33. ↩ Conservative Caucus of BC, “NDP Denies Access to Public Lands,” 31 July 2026, quoting Kerry-Lynne Findlay as leader: “A B.C. Conservative government will reactivate any unnecessary closures and will repair roads where necessary.” Findlay resigned the leadership on 20 September 2026, and Lorne Doerkson became interim leader on 21 September. Link
  34. ↩ BC Ballot, “BC election debate 2026,” read 9 October 2026: the leaders’ debate on Wednesday 14 October 2026, 6:15 to 8 p.m. Pacific, on Global BC, CBC, CTV, Citytv and CHEK, with David Eby, Lorne Doerkson and Emily Lowan, moderated by Shachi Kurl (source given there as Global News, 6 October 2026); the local forums listed from 13 to 22 October; and advance voting from 16 to 21 October, before Final Voting Day on Saturday 24 October. Link