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The residents of the Town of Wainwright must decide that the proposed removal of National Buffalo Park will be favourable to the commercial and business future of the Town. This is a question of business policy, for any other or personal feelings in this respect may bring disasterous results.
At the present time there are 110,000 acres of prairie land set aside for the Game Reserve and what revenue is it producing? What revenue will it produce in ten years time? Where in all Canada is there a large revenue being produced from a tourist resort? Where is there a city in Canada being supported by a tourist resort? What does the National Buffalo Park mean from an advertising standpoint? This last question is probably the biggest point that is raised by those who advocate keeping the Buffalo Park in its present location.
From an advertising point of view you will find many (but no one who has the best interests of your town at heart) who will say that the Buffalo Park is an asset that no other town in all Canada has, and one that will make it known from one end of the globe to the other, and I believe it will but just what revenue will it produce?
How many tourists will it bring to your City annually and how much money will each tourist spend? I venture to say that in the next ten years your tourist revenue will not exceed $5,000 per annum and this revenue will be confined to a very few.
What about the rural residents of the district in the vicinity of the Park? Are they to suffer for this paltry tourist revenue, and soes it put any dollars in the actual residents’ pockets to boost an advertising medium that only helps the boomer advertise your town as having the largest herd of buffalos in captivity.
Niagara and Banff are, I believe, the biggest tourist resorts in Canada and think of how much more they have to offer than you. What are they?
Niagara is a good town, but surely not in Wainwright’s class.
Banff has an hotel.
What would it mean to the business men of Wainwright and the farmers in the Wainwright District if this large reserve was thrown open to agriculture? THINK OF IT! If 500 farmers were living where the buffaloes now roam what would the revenue be? Consider the increase in land values in the vicinity of the Park and the increase in farm lands has made more farmers wealthy than grain growing on the Western plains.
I have driven through the park on several occasions and I venture to state that this land will produce as many dollars per annum as any other district in the three prairie provinces. If 500 farmers located in this reserve your revenue would be at least two million dollars per year from the land alone. How many small towns would be located in this park that would look to Wainwright for their supplies? What would it mean to your business men? If you are a business man, whether a retailer or wholesaler and have not a selfish motive, you can not help but admit that the removal of the Park would be the greatest boost the Town of Wainwright has ever had. Surely you do not want to hear the distributors say, “With only three sides to draw from, we do not consider your territory large enough, therefore we will have to go to ------.”
I have heard railroad officials say, “We would go into your town if it were possible, but the Buffalo Park is in the way.”
How are your farmers to the South of your town going to get a railroad if the Buffalo Park remains?
These questions you must answer if you are advocating keeping the Park in its present location. Sit down and consider them carefully and when a petition advocating the removal of the Park is circulated, boost it for it means life to your town and community.
~ J. E. McCormack