Proposed User Fees

Introduction

Parks Canada has been pleased to receive input from Canadians during its public consultation period on proposed changes to its national and local fees which took place from January 11 to February 18, 2013. All comments brought forward by Canadians have been recorded and reviewed.

The proposal includes modest adjustments to national fees such as entry, camping, backcountry use, firewood, boat launching, fishing permits and water permits. These will be adjusted in accordance with the Consumer Price Index (CPI). CPI adjustments will also apply to existing local fees which are listed in the fee section of each location's webpage. Statistics Canada measured the annual average increase in consumer prices for 2012 to be 1.5%. This increase will be applied to most national fees in 2013. Examples of fees at the proposed adjustments include:

Description	Current Fee	Proposed Adjusted Fee
Adult National Park day entry (Level 3 park)	$7.80	$8.00
Adult National Historic Site day entry (Level 4 site)	$11.70	$12.00
Unservice Campsite	$25.50	$26.00
Fishing Permit	$9.80	$10.00

These small increases result in fees that continue to be very reasonable in providing outstanding opportunities for Canadians to experience their natural and historic treasures.

Starting in 2015 and every two years after, fees will be adjusted by the preceding 2 years cumulative annual average CPI increase.

Some national fees will be increased by more than CPI. These are lockage, mooring, heritage presentation special programs and facility rentals.

Additionally, there are a number of new fees being proposed for new services and/or programs. Nationally, these include:

• self-guided technology device rentals
• learn-to-camp programs
• an additional service level for diversified accommodations
• film and photography fees.

New local fees for new services and/or programs are also proposed for many individual Parks Canada locations. These are listed individually under each location where they are proposed.

Value for Fees

The 44 national parks, 167 national historic sites and four national marine conservation areas administered by Parks Canada are truly icons of Canada. They provide incomparable experience opportunities, and memories that last a lifetime. Visitors highly rank Parks Canada services with over 95% satisfied! Parks Canada's service standards will remain unchanged.

Why Parks Canada Charges Fees

Parks Canada charges user fees to help pay for services that provide personal or commercial benefits. Parks Canada currently charges over 3,300 different user fees for services such as entry, camping and for rights and privileges such as business licenses.Only about 30% of the cost of visitor programs is funded by user fees revenue; revenue that is retained at the national park, national historic site or national marine conservation area where it was collected.

Rising Costs

As a result of higher energy costs and other inflationary impacts, Parks Canada faces constantly increasing operating costs to provide services to visitors.

Fee Freeze Ends

To support Canadians and tourism businesses during a difficult economic period, Parks Canada froze its prices at 2008 levels. This fee freeze ends in 2013. Click here to see the current fees in place until the proposed fees are approved, sometime in 2013. Current fees remain in effect until that time. Seasonal lockage and seasonal mooring fees for 2013 continue to remain available for purchase at the current fee.

Keeping Pace

Parks Canada proposes that future fee adjustments for major services be in accordance with the Consumer Price Index. The Consumer Price Index (CPI) is a measure of the rate of price change for goods and services bought by Canadian consumers. It is the most widely accepted indicator of price changes in Canada. Click here to see more details on the national proposal.

Local and Regional Proposals

In an effort to be market responsive, Parks Canada from time to time, introduces new optional visitor services and proposes new fees to help support these services. At some Parks Canada places, local fees have not been adjusted for several years or are in need of an adjustment that exceeds the annual average Consumer Price Index. To view a specific fee proposal please click on a link below.

Parks Canada Locations by province

Newfoundland and Labrador
Nova Scotia
Prince Edward Island
New Brunswick
Quebec
Ontario
Manitoba
Saskatchewan
Alberta
British Columbia
Yukon
Northwest Territories
Nunavut

FAQs

For answers to commonly asked questions, please click here.

Service Standards

Parks Canada has been using visitor satisfaction at surveyed sites as a measure of performance since 1996. As stated in the Agency's corporate planning and reporting documents, a level of 90 percent satisfaction is required as the user fee performance standard. In 1998, Parks Canada also introduced a Quality Service Guarantee that applies to all visitor services for which user fees are paid. This initiative ensures that visitors have an immediate recourse if they are not satisfied with the quality of service provided or do not believe that they received value for their fees paid. Through the Guarantee, the concern is immediately addressed up to and including a refund of a portion or entire fee paid. This achieves the accountability for performance as contemplated by the User Fees Act, and can exceed the Act's requirements by refunding the user-fee immediately to a dissatisfied client.

Comments

Parks Canada consults on all fee changes to provide transparency and accountability of its user fees as required by the User Fees Act and the Parks Canada Agency Act. Parks Canada's public consultations, for the proposed price changes for 2013, took place from January 11, 2013 to February 18, 2013. This period also represents the official User Fees Act "notification period".

All input received before February 18, 2013 midnight EST will be considered within this process.. As required under the User Fees Act, Parks Canada will endeavour to resolve all fee related complaints that arose during the public consultation period. . Parks Canada will respond to complaints before the end of a 30-day complaint resolution period ending April 12, 2013. If you submitted input in the nature of a complaint and you do not feel that it was resolved to your satisfaction, you have the option of requesting that it be examined by a higher-level resolution mechanism.

Please indicate your request to: :

Next Steps

Parks Canada is currently considering and responding to Canadians’ input. Where necessary, adjustments to proposed fees may be made by local management for fees at a particular location and by Parks Canada’s Chief Executive Officer for fees that are standard across the country.

For all fees which fall under the requirements of the User Fees Act and once any final adjustments are made to the user fees, Parks Canada will present the proposed user fees to Parliament for review and recommendation and subsequently to the Minister of the Environment for approval. Once approved, all user fees will be published in the Canada Gazette and will be implemented at the various Parks Canada locations sometime in 2013. Note: Adjustments to lockage fees will not be implemented until 2014. All non User Fees Act fees will be presented to the Minister of the Environment directly for approval.