Hello,
I am writing about the decommissioning of the Kettle Valley Rail Trail between Princeton and the Coquihalla Highway, announced by the Ministry of Environment and Parks on 6 February 2026 and narrowed on 18 June 2026. Neither announcement carries a minister’s name, so before 24 October I would like answers to the following six questions.
1. Who made the decision to decommission this section, and on what date? Will you publish the decision record?
2. The Province’s engineering report of 12 December 2023 priced restoring the trail to its pre-flood condition at $37.1 million. How much of that would federal Disaster Financial Assistance Arrangements funding have covered? Will the original and revised business cases be published?
3. How was the $60 million figure for repair and maintenance built up?
4. The ministry’s notice of 4 February 2026 referred to “deep engagement with First Nations and other stakeholders.” Who was consulted, and when?
5. Brookmere residents say the trail to Coalmont Road is their only alternate evacuation route. Has emergency or wildfire planning assessed its removal?
6. Will you pause the decommissioning until the Regional District of Okanagan-Similkameen makes its maintenance decision at the end of 2026?
To the candidates: please tell me in writing where you stand on question 6 before I vote.
[Your name]
[Your community]
If pressing Send does nothing, your browser may not have an email app attached — common on phones with webmail only. Use Copy the text and Copy the addresses, then paste both into Gmail, Outlook or whatever you use.
Every party gets the same letter. All six candidates in the two ridings the trail crosses are copied, with the three ministers responsible. MLAs leave office when the Legislature is dissolved, but ministers stay in office.
Change the wording if you want to. Your own words carry more weight than a hundred identical letters, so keep the six questions and make the rest yours.
Fill in your name and community before you send. Each question comes from the Province’s bulletins and engineering report, which are set out in the article.
Who this goes to
| Recipient | Address | Line |
|---|---|---|
| Minister of Environment and Parks | ENV.Minister@gov.bc.ca | To |
| Kettle Valley Rail Trail office, Recreation Sites and Trails BC | KVR.Trail@gov.bc.ca | To |
| Minister of Emergency Management and Climate Readiness | EMCR.Minister@gov.bc.ca | Cc |
| Minister of Tourism, Arts, Culture and Sport | TACS.Minister@gov.bc.ca | Cc |
| Donegal Wilson, Conservative, Boundary-Similkameen | donegal.wilson@conservativebc.ca | Cc |
| Roly Russell, BC NDP, Boundary-Similkameen | roly.russell@bcndp.ca | Cc |
| Keith Pomeroy, OneBC, Boundary-Similkameen | keith.pomeroy@1bc.ca | Cc |
| Tony Luck, Conservative, Fraser-Nicola | tony.luck@conservativebc.ca | Cc |
| Jason Leboe, BC NDP, Fraser-Nicola | jason.leboe@bcndp.ca | Cc |
| Patrick Michell, BC Greens, Fraser-Nicola | teammichell@bcgreens.ca | Cc |
| Backcountry Coalition | contact@backcountry.cx | Cc |
Backcountry Coalition is copied so we can count how many of these went out and follow what comes back. We never publish anyone's letter or address. The ministers' addresses are from the Province's cabinet directory; KVR.Trail@gov.bc.ca is the trail office address used in the published user-group letters; candidate addresses are those their parties publish.