Infrastructure Renewal
Campaign

It’s vital that our recreation infrastructure is renewed on an ongoing basis. British Columbians need this valuable resource for future generations. Our parks, pools, arenas and community centres form the hearts of our communities. These places are where people gather for neighbourhood celebrations, where they cheer local sports heroes, and where they go to learn new skills and take part in physical activity.

BCRPA's new report, “A Time for Renewal: Assessing the State of Recreation Facilities in British Columbia’ has found that 68% of our infrastructure is at least 25 years old.

Funding must be made available to renew our recreation infrastructure so that it can meet changing community needs, become more energy efficient, continue to support active healthy lifestyles and ultimately remain important and sustainable in our communities.

At the request of its members, the BCRPA has set recreation infrastructure renewal as a top priority and is implementing an advocacy campaign with government officials to bring awareness to the issue and gain the support and commitment needed to initiate action on this pressing problem.

Actions:

Letters of Support
To assist us with this initiative we are inviting local governments, stakeholders, and organizations to forward letters of support that communicate the urgency and importance of this issue and how it impacts individuals, our communities, environments, and economy.

We have been receiving letters of support from around the province. To assist those wanting to lend their voice to this cause, we have produced a template letter for reference.

We appreciate your support as we continue our work to make recreation infrastructure renewal a top public policy priority.

Advocacy
The BCRPA is meeting with key provincial government ministries to raise awareness of the current state of recreation infrastructure around the province and gain support for recreation infrastructure renewal. Two support documents have been produced summarizing the overall issue and positioning it in context to the health of the population and communities across BC.

Federal Budget Priority Submission
The BCRPA submitted a brief to the House of Commons Standing Committee on Finance to make recreation infrastructure renewal a priority for the 2011 federal budget. Read the brief here.

Provincial Budget Submission
The BCRPA submitted a brief to the Select Standing Committee on Finance and Government Services advocating that recreation infrastructure renewal be considered a provincial budget priority. Read the brief here.

Media Relations
Letter to the editor, Vancouver Sun. Printed August 7, 2010
Editorial to all BC media. 2009