By ROY WOOD

There is going to be a national park in the South Okanagan and the town of Oliver needs to get on board or be left standing on the platform as the train full of economic benefits pulls out, park advocate Jim Wyse told town council on Tuesday.

Wyse, a spokesman for the South Okanagan-Similkameen National Park Network, told a council committee that the park proposed in provincial environment minister Mary Polak’s “intentions paper” leaves Oliver out of park benefits.

But, he said in an interview, “If Oliver would speak up as a united council, it would make a big difference.”

The park, as proposed in Polak’s paper, envisions a two-piece national park with about 68 square kilometres in the south from the border halfway to Oliver.

The other section, about 98 square kilometres, begins some five kilometres north of Oliver and extends to Okanagan Falls and west of Highway 97.

Left out of Polak’s vision is the so-called area 2. It is the 177 square kilometres that stretches north and south of a line between Oliver and Cawston. It was included in earlier national park proposals, but the minister has designated it as a “provincial conservancy.”

Wyse contends that area 2 — which includes Mount Kobau — must be part of any worthy national park. “It won’t be a major attraction without the mountaintop,” he said.

If area 2 were part of the park, Oliver would be ideally situated as an entry point and, therefore, would benefit from the influx of tourists. Without it, park visitors would go through Okanagan Falls and Osoyoos, but not Oliver.

“(Oliver council) should demand the minister include area 2 in the park,” Wyse said Tuesday.

Polak has set a deadline of October 31 for responses to her intentions paper. After that, she will make a recommendation to the provincial cabinet in 2016.

Mayor Ron Hovanes, who said he has been careful not to take a public position on the national park issue, told council that the two sides in the debate are very close to agreeing.

“If there is a real economic benefit, we need to decide if we want to be part of this,” he said.

Wyse told the meeting the average number of jobs in a Canadian national park is 772 and the average annual spending related to the parks is $66 million per year.

Water councillor Rick Machail said that tourists visiting an Okanagan park, with or without area 2, would still visit Oliver to visit the wineries.

He added that when assessing economic benefits it is important to consider the economic losses as well, although he wasn’t specific.

Council took no action except to ask staff to invite Parks Canada and the appropriate cattlemen’s association to a meeting.