Water parks: “a kind of blockage that we do not understand”

Still waiting for the green light to governments to start their season, the two water parks of the region of the federal capital, Mont-Cascades and Calypso, are impatient.

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14 June 2020 22h10

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Water parks: “a kind of blockage that we do not understand”

Daniel LeBlanc

The Right

Still waiting for the green light to governments to start their season, the two water parks of the region of the federal capital, Mont-Cascades and Calypso, are impatient. Their water slides are closed, so that the summer solstice will knock at our doors this week and another heat wave is on the radar.

For Mont Cascades, where one follows the directives of Quebec, it is the misunderstanding the more total following the announcement of the second phase of the revitalization plan of the tourism sector, last Thursday, which did not include the water parks. A second disappointment for the industry in the space of a week.

“We are always on the tightrope, there is a kind of blockage that we do not understand. We feel a bit frustrated, there is a lack of communication and transparency. […] It wants to open, we are ready and we are still trying to put everything in place, but we really look forward to having a date. What it feels like to be in government communications, it is: you are not forgotten, but no one will say anything to you. It is stressful for us, because it takes a lot of organization, you can’t turn on a dime,” says the manager of communications and marketing, Emily Desgagné-Bouchard.

The Consolidation of the water parks in Quebec, including among others Mont-Cascades, Village Vacances Valcartier and the Super Aqua Club, one digests badly to be immersed in nothingness while the swimming pools of camping grounds and hotels as well as the water games were, for their part, the authorization to operate. It adds that “in the absence of clear guidance from the government,” parks questioned the relevance of continuing the preparations for the season, which lasts in normal time over a period of just three months.

At Mont-Cascades, it is specified that, given that it takes at least two weeks prior to an opening of the facilities once the green light is given, the time begins to squeeze.

“Open the 15 July is not an option for us. On the 1st of July, it’s not bad the cut-off date, then we should have an announcement very soon. We would like to see something move. In addition, we have a big space, then social distancing is much easier to follow as in a park or a beach. While the world has had its fair share of the cake and it seems to be the last. Even the hair salons are reopened and there is a consensus that it is difficult not to touch someone’s hair. And in general, even when we are not in a pandemic, the vocation of a water park, it is precisely the security, then it is sure that you will not take any chance that it will go wrong,” says the spokesperson.

Emilia Desgagné-Bouchard

Simon Séguin-Bertrand, The Right

“You never know if our name will come out”

For his part, the president and chief of operations of the group Valcartier-Calypso, Sylvain Lauzon, is not at all clear why the public health Directorate of Quebec, just allow the reopening of the zoo, for hosting the same type of customer, while the doors of the aquatic parks have for the moment remain closed.

“It’s complicated. One wonders greatly, we demand answers to the government to know what the difference is. It encourages people to visit the tourist attractions of the province. It has filed a plan of sanitary measures on may 25, it is expanded. This is not finished, we keep hope. We just wait for a date. It is always a surprise, you never know if our name will get out,” notes the businessman.

The latter believes that an opening of the water parks of the enterprise (Calypso in Ontario and Valcartier Vacation Village in Quebec) at a later date than at the beginning of July is not desirable, “financially”.

“With the horizon a season of sixty days, this will not be a summer that I would call profit, but at least it will pay our bills”, lance-t-il.

Mr. Lauzon also argues that the two neighbouring provinces do not have the same approach with industry for the déconfinement.

“In Ontario, it is very different. The government has ruled saying that his plan déconfinement would take place in four phases, and it was clear from the outset that water parks were in phase 3. We may be in agreement or not, but we know more of what to expect. The decisions are more decentralized, the situation (of the COVID-19) may differ from one region to the other. For example, it differs a lot between eastern ontario and Toronto. I very much appreciate the transparency, I’ve had good open discussions with Dr. Roumeliotis, medical officer of health to the health Bureau of eastern Ontario (BSEO)”, he adds.

He says that the BSEO was very well-received, the health plan of Calypso, for example, plans to welcome about 30% of its maximum capacity of visitors on the 100-acre site.

Le Soleil