Re: [Paddlewise] Marine Service Fee - (off-topic)

At 10:04 PM 3/8/99 -0800, Dave wrote:
>
>Most communities regard the "economic benefit" from tourism as sufficient
>to override the demands tourists place on the local public safety
>apparatus: fire control, police protection, Coast Guard, rescue personnel,
>etc.  

Okay, let me preface these remarks with the following qualifications, so
you know this is not a "Yankees go home" diatribe:
1. My mom was American. (The only reason I didn't opt for a dual
Canadian-American passport was at the time I had to chose, there was that
unpleasantness going on in Vietnam that I would have been asked to
participate in.) 
2. Some of my best friends are American.
3. I even speak reasonably fluent American, though I usually give myself
away with shibboleths such as "roof" by pronouncing it to rhyme with
"tooth" and not with "rough".
4. One of the great things about this list is that it largely transcends
nationality. I feel more affinity for my fellow kayakers from the US of A,
Finland or New Zealand than I do for many Canadians who are not paddlers. 

I imagine kayakers of any nationality probably inject less cash per head
into the local micro economies than other tourists: we often camp rather
than staying in hotels, and with the exception of perishables, we bring our
own food. That said, we do buy gas for our motorized kayak land carriers,
and have been known to spend some time (and money) in marine pubs.
(Offsetting this is the fact our environmental impact is proportionately
lower too.) However, a Canadian kayak guiding company has at least
provisioned itself and brought its boats and gear somewhere in Canada, if
not in the local community. US companies probably buy all but perishables
at home, for the logistical convenience (I don't blame them for this; I
wouldn't want to be running around unfamiliar stores in an unfamiliar town
trying to locate vital menu ingredients while my paying clients cooled
their heels in my van.)   

>
>That said, I'd willingly pay my share of any provincial or national service
>fee/boat tax, what-have-you, in Canada, Mexico, or anyplace else ... IF 
>the money went toward supporting my activity:  sea kayaking.
snip >Support for parks is so poor in my county, that the State had to
conduct an
>audit of the County because the County was not using pass-through State
>money properly -- they shuffled it away from paying for winter portapotty
>service!  (Picture a busy boat ramp at an isolated location without a
>portapotty for four months:  hepatitis, hepatitis! Excavating for a mine!)
>
>I suspect the revenue stream from a "yak tax" of CDN$25/boat/year is
>negligible.
>
>Sounds like an annoyance tax to me.  But, I'd pay it willingly, if ...

These are very valid concerns. BC Parks has farmed out the "servicing" of
many of its parks to local "contractors" who are paid far less than the
professional park personnel were, and who make their money from camping
fees they collect from users. We have other scary examples of government
abrogating its responsibilities and letting for-profit companies
cherry-pick profitable services while leaving the government with the
money-losers: Canada's national air aids-to-navigation system has been
privatized, and in Vancouver we have the Airport Authority, a
non-accountable, for-profit enterprise that runs Vancouver Airport. In
Britain, the electricity and water infrastructures, built with public
funds, have been sold to private enterprises which of course are more
interested in quarterly returns than long-term viability. And all
governments are notorious for collecting money supposedly for a dedicated
purpose, then plundering it for general revenues (our national pension plan
comes to mind). So I think you're right to worry that the "yak tax" might
wind up doing little more than supporting the bureaucracy that collects it.
Thanks for letting me have this therapeutic rave <rant mode off>. 
I'll just picture myself paddling, the soft gurgle of the water, the scent
of the salt air and the evergreens... I feel better already.
  
Philip T.
N49°16' W123°08' 
"The opinions expressed in this posting are not necessarily those of my
employer, or indeed, of any sentient being."
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