Providing Quality Visitor Services

World Class Experiences

To Canadians and people worldwide, national parks and national historic sites are icons of Canada. They provide great experiences and memories that last a lifetime and Canadians consistently rank the quality of our services at the top of those offered by the Federal Government.

Parks Canada guarantees excellent value and quality services.

Services Depend on User Fees

Tax dollars are provided by Government to create and preserve national parks and national historic sites, as this benefits all Canadians. People visiting these special places gain a personal benefit when they use and enjoy services and facilities. It is fair to other taxpayers that they help to pay for them through user fees.

At national parks and national historic sites, we keep revenues from user fees to support visitor services and facilities. However, it costs more to provide high quality visitor services than the revenue that we receive from user fees.

A $100 million asset problem

Many national park and national historic site visitor facilities were built between the late 1950s and early 1970s. They have reached the end of their normal serviceable lives and more than two thirds need to be rebuilt. Undertaking this work and maintaining these assets in good repair requires an annual investment of $100 million.

The solution: new funding plus fee increases

In the 2005 Federal Budget, the Government provided a phased-in allocation of new funding, rising to $75 million per year by 2009-2010, to rebuild visitor facilities, renew infrastructure and restore national historic sites.

The remaining $25 million in annual funding is to be obtained through phased user fee increases.

We asked Canadians

We asked Canadians during consultations whether they would prefer Parks Canada to maintain current prices, which would result in the Agency having to close facilities and reduce services, or to have us increase prices in order to rebuild facilities and improve services. These consultations were carried out between September 2003 and February 2004.

A large majority of Canadians said that they would accept higher user fees due to Parks Canada's commitment to spend the revenues on rebuilding visitor facilities.

Some people asked that we not increase all fees at the same time. Parks Canada has agreed to extend the phase-in period from 3 to 4 years and to stagger the increases for various services.

The fees are now approved

New national park and national historic site fees for 2005 to 2008 have now been approved through a process that involved tabling a detailed proposal in Parliament. To view the entire list of approved fees, visit the Canada Gazette Website at: http://canadagazette.gc.ca/partI/2008/20080209/html/supplcontent-e.html

All of the fee increases being implemented were based on their comparability with the prices charged at other heritage attractions across Canada and internationally.