Kejimkujik National Park
Today, Bernadette Jordan, Minister of Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard and Member of Parliament for South Shore-St. Margarets, announced $10 million in improvements in federal infrastructure projects and almost $600,000 to support greenhouse gas emissions reduction efforts at Kejimkujik National Park.
“Nova Scotians are so fortunate to have Kejimkujik National Park and National Historic Site in our backyard. When we are on the other side of this pandemic, we all look forward to welcoming back visitors from all over the world to experience the outdoors and learn about our Canadian heritage. These substantial investments our government is making with green infrastructure will help ensure that this park continues to offer a sustainable, safe, and breath-taking experience to Nova Scotians and visitors from all around the globe for decades to come.”
Parks Canada will use the funds to complete significant improvements to visitor facilities for the park. Upgrades include; upgrades to Jeremy’s Bay Campground including new universal-access, gender-neutral washroom and shower facilities, a new water treatment facility, upgraded power and sewer utilities, and five new roofed accommodations. As well, a brand new shared-use trail system has added 6 km of new trails to the existing park trail network.
The Greening Government Fund is investing $589,400 to support the installation of a 100-kilowatt array of solar panels – enough to reduce the park’s greenhouse gas emissions by about 17 per cent. The electricity use of campers at the campground will entirely come from the photovoltaic solar array that will generate 100 kilowatts of renewable energy annually through Nova Scotia Power’s Net Metering Program.
President of the Treasury Board Jean-Yves Duclos said, “I am pleased that the Greening Government Fund is being used in Kejimkujik National Park and National Historic Site to further Canada’s efforts towards our Net Zero by 2050 objective. Investments of this nature contribute to achieving the net-zero emissions commitment in the renewed Greening Government Strategy and communicate to Parks users, and all Canadians, the critical importance of acting on climate change.”
Over the lifetime of this project, Parks Canada will see a cumulative reduction of about 3,300 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions, which is roughly equal to taking 1,035 cars off the road for one year.
