Gold Rush Trail Development Co-operative

Date of Incorporation: 1999

Membership: Municipalities and Regional Districts of the Service Area

Area Served: Gold Rush Trail Area (Fort Langley to Prince George)

Activity: Shared Service and Lobbying Co-op/Tourism.

Background

Grace McCarthy, Minister responsible for Tourism, established the Gold Rush Trail as a heritage tourism trail along highway 97 in the mid 1980s. This was primarily a marketing ploy to assuage fears over the impact of the Coquihala Highway bypass. However, there was only funding to sustain this initiative for one year.

In 1999, a Cariboo Economic Action Forum brought together local governments, businesses, and the provincial government, including then-Premier Glen Clark. The proceedings of the forum identified the need to diversify the economy of the area through the promotion of tourism. After this forum, the local governments developed the idea further and decided to apply to the Community Enterprise Fund for some seed money.

Setting up the Co-operative

The group's original intent was to form an association to market the tourism opportunities in the Cariboo. They wanted to provide a structure for people to come together and fund the marketing strategy, but they didn't originally consider using the co-operative structure.  The group ended up forming a co-op because the Ministry of Community Development, Co-operatives and Volunteers (MCDCV) was structured to provide funding for co-ops rather than for non-profit societies or other organisations. Since the group was primarily concerned with timing, and with preparing the funding application forms, they did not spend much time ruminating on the type of organisational model they wanted to use:

It was easier, faster and more conducive to the ministry's goals and objectives [to be a co-op]. And it didn't compromise our objectives either, so it was the way to go...It was primarily because we needed a structure to be able to get people involved, give them a vote and a membership and at the same time use it strictly as a marketing tool, although the co-operative allows for more things to be done than what a society can do. (Doug Ruttan, member)

Dianne Lawson, the former manager of Barkerville Historic Town, was the driving force of the co­operative. She was the member who had marketing skills, and knowledge about the co-operative model. She was good at developing partnerships with people. Doug Ruttan, another founding member and former City Manager of Quesnel, had experience in management and also felt that promoting the area through a tourism co-operative would be a good way to get more people interested in the area. "The Cariboo is a difficult place to do business in terms of tourism marketing and strategy, and the co-op needed to do a lot of serious development and work at pulling together to make this happen," he said.

Other early members of the co-operative were tourist-oriented businesses that were trying to figure out ways to link their goals, one of which was to co-operative market tourism in the area, targeting the Pacific Northwest, Greater Vancouver, and Calgary areas. The goal was to draw people to the Cariboo, promoting the Gold Rush Trail as a prime tourist destination with historic interest, and a convenient location for travellers exploring the Pacific Northwest, Alaska and the Rockies.

Most of the financing for the co-op came from the Community Enterprise Fund. The businesses in the communities provided very little assistance. Many of the tourist business operators had attitudes that were not open to doing anything new, so Ruttan and Lawson discovered they needed to focus on team building. It took approximately one year to get everything organised and to get their structure and practices in place.

Activities of the Co-operative

The primary role of the co-op has been to take inventory, and to identify commonalities for marketing and infrastructure needs. This includes such activities as the efforts of Steve Wallace, mayor of Quesnel, who has been lobbying the BC government for transportation improvements. Transportation in the area is limited by poor road conditions, and expensive rail and air service. The co-op modelled its marketing strategies on those of the Trans Canada Yellowhead Highway Association,¹ which works to improve the roads and expand the range of the Trans Canada Yellowhead Highway. The association also assists in the promotion of economic development and tourism to the communities along the Trans Canada Yellowhead Highway.

Limitations to Growth

The co-op's members direct its activities, and the person with the drive to lead the members was Dianne Lawson. She left the co-op in July 2000, which was a major blow to the group.

The development of partnerships also has been difficult. The tourism businesses in the area have traditionally operated in isolation. Initially the co-op brought in more members than Ruttan had anticipated, but it was not even close to what they thought they should have in order to be viable.

Since this time the co-op has developed a new strategy for growth. The co-op has a new board, with no business members; however, it includes representatives of the local municipalities and regional districts associations from Fort Langley to Prince George. These organisations provide administrative seed money, and work on behalf of tourism businesses in their various communities.

Looking to the Future

The primary efforts of the Co-op have been to secure adequate funding for heritage sites such as Barkerville, and for infrastructure development, particularly transportation. They have had to deal with cutbacks to highway improvements, the Cariboo Prospector rail service, and air travel into communities. All of these have provided an impetus for increased lobbying to improve and reinvest in transportation services to the region.

One current issue for the co-op is disagreement within the group over whether to initiate a municipal tax on hotels. The group needs consensus for decisions, and opinion on this question is divided.  The GRTC has been lobbying for increased funding from other sources because of the lack of consent at the municipal level on this question.

The co-operative is relying on bringing together a strong and coherent local association that can bring together influence on provincial government policy. They aim to develop common policy stances across boundaries of governance and municipal authority, which they feel can provide the incentive for the provincial government of British Columbia to assist in the development of GRTDC.

Endnotes

¹ The Trans Canada Yellowhead Highway Association www.yellowheadhighway.com

Case Study Information

This case study was developed for a report entitled Situating Co-operatives in British Columbia - 2000 - 2001, which was prepared for the Province of B.C. (Ministry of Community Development, Co-operatives and Volunteers) by the British Columbia Institute for Co-operative Studies, University of Victoria.  To obtain the information for the case study BCICS and the co-operative entered into a partnership agreement. BCICS is grateful to the co-op members for their contributions and time. The case study is published with the approval of the co-operative. Further information regarding this study includes the following:

Researcher: Gabe Haythornthwaite

Date of research: 2001

Author:  Lloy Wylie

Date of writing: 2001

Editing: BCICS editorial group

Supervision: Kathleen Gabelmann, BCICS Research Co-ordinator

Location