Impending job cuts at Parks Canada come at an “odd” time, according to a public service union, as the federal government prepares to renew a free summer park pass designed to boost domestic tourism in response to a hostile White House.
Parks Canada's Budget Cuts
Parks Canada is committed to cutting about $140 million in operational spending over the next three years. In an email to staff earlier this month, Parks Canada’s interim president and CEO Andrew Campbell said the agency is entering a “period of workforce adjustment” and will be cutting jobs in multiple waves. Campbell’s memo said attrition alone wouldn’t be enough to meet the required savings and that some work at the agency would be “adjusted, scaled back or discontinued.”
Canada Strong Pass Renewal
Meanwhile, the government is preparing to renew the “Canada Strong Pass,” a program offering, among other perks, free admission to national parks and discounts on museums and galleries. Shortly after winning the 2025 election on a wave of anti-American sentiment fuelled by threats from the White House, the Carney government unveiled the Canada Strong Pass, branded as a tool to boost domestic tourism. A news release at the time described the pass as an effort “to make it easier for families to choose Canada.”
Union and Observer Concerns
“The timing of it is odd,” said Alex Silas, national executive vice-president with the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC). “While they’re trying to promote access to Parks Canada parks and historic sites, they’re also weakening our ability to preserve and maintain these historic sites and parks.” Unions and observers fear budget cuts and job losses will hamper Parks Canada’s ability to handle the anticipated boost in visitation under the free summer pass.
Historical Context of Cuts
Magdalena Garcia, a researcher in protected areas with the Montreal-based Secretariat on the Convention of Biological Diversity, said periods of austerity are nothing new for Parks Canada. Under former prime minister Stephen Harper, for example, much of “the discourse at the time” questioned whether the agency should be self-funded, Garcia said. After funding cuts announced in the 2012 federal budget — the first of Harper’s sole majority government — hundreds of jobs in the agency were declared surplus. “Infrastructure got really, really damaged,” she said. “There was no funding to maintain what already existed.”
Funding and Infrastructure
For decades, Garcia said, about 80 per cent of the base funding for national parks in Canada has come from taxpayers, with the remainder coming from visitors. Parks Canada also receives time-limited funding from the government, such as infrastructure investments. Under former prime minister Justin Trudeau, the government invested heavily in national park infrastructure, including millions to fix highways and bridges as well as address deferred heritage work. The current cuts come after a surge in infrastructure investment, raising questions about sustainability.
Observers decry the cuts, stating that parks cannot be managed “with magic.” The combination of reduced operational spending and increased visitation from the free pass threatens the preservation and maintenance of Canada’s national parks and historic sites.
