By Cheryl Jahn

Mayor of Valemount says monitoring tourists challenging

May 7, 2021 | 2:15 PM

PRINCE GEORGE – As of today, checkpoints are set up on Highway 1, near Boston Bar, Highway 3 in the Manning Park area, Highway 5 and Highway 99 in the Lillooet area. The aim is to ensure traffic between three provincial regions is for emergencies only. But no such checkpoints are in place to ensure tourists from the province with some of the highest covid numbers – Alberta – are not coming to BC.

But the Mayor of Valemount says it would be tough to monitor.

“We have a pipeline in our backyard. We have extensive rail extracurricular work there. There are ties being taken out. There’s a couple of hundred extra workers there,” explains Owen Torgerson, Mayor of Valemount. He says some of those workers are bringing their own RV’s and staying in Valemount’s campgrounds rather than the worker accommodation.

He also notes the COVID numbers are way down in the area, which is another reason he hopes businesses can resume after the May long weekend.

“We’re in a shoulder season, with or without a pandemic. The numbers will be down. The traffic will be down. But given the last three weeks and the restrictions that have neem in place, the businesses, particularly the restaurants, I would have to say it’s been pretty hard on them.”

Policing

Want to be a Mountie? Recruitment scheduled for April 30

1h ago

Downtown Safety

String of downtown fires has business owners fed up

9h ago

UNBC AWARD

UNBC earns Canada West Feature of the Year Award

10h ago

The restrictions have been put in place until May 25th, after the long weekend. The hope is if the numbers bear out, they will not continue after that. Torgerson says because the restrictions are in May, the shoulder season, it’s not bad, adding if they can have June, July and August, the very tourism-oriented community “will be okay.”