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B.C. ski resort apologizes after calling for reopening of flood-damaged highway to tourists

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A ski resort in B.C.'s Interior is apologizing for comments one of its executives made to local media about the impact of essential travel restrictions for Highway 3 on the tourism industry as the province attempts to recover from devastating floods.

Michael J. Ballingall, senior vice-president of Big White Ski Resort, told Castanet News earlier this week that he would like to see the highway reopened to non-essential travel for a six-hour window between noon and 6 p.m. daily. 

Ballingall explained that the resort has seen a rash of cancellations because of uncertainty around when Highway 3 - currently the most direct route between the Lower Mainland and Big White's location east of Kelowna because of the closure of Highway 5 - will be open to tourists again.

"It is clear the Coquihalla Highway (Highway 5) and Highway 1 won’t be ready to use until late January," Ballingall told Castanet.

"So we are asking on behalf of those that require travel that there be a time slot for Highway 3 for non-essential travel to use that highway.”

The massive rainstorm that flooded the cities of Merritt, Princeton and Abbotsford in mid-November also triggered landslides that closed every highway that connects the Lower Mainland to the Interior.

A few days after that storm, Highway 7 and Highway 3 reopened, creating a link between regions that the provincial government restricted to essential travel only - a category that includes commercial vehicles and previously stranded travellers returning to their homes.

Other routes, including Highway 99 and parts of Highway 1, reopened after the initial storm, but progress has been fragile. Parts of both of those highways are currently closed, and all of the highways listed so far  - including Highway 3 - have had to be shut down again at various times as additional rain brought more slides and flooding.

Against this backdrop, some found Ballingall's comments about tourism insensitive, particularly to victims of the disasters that have unfolded.

On Tuesday, the mountain issued a statement in which Ballingall apologized and sought to explain his intentions. 

“I have watched the flooding, and the crisis which has unfolded, closely, and (I) share in the grief of those affected," Ballingall said in the statement, before describing his comments as "misconstrued."

"The comments I made regarding travel on Highway 3 come from my position on various tourism boards throughout British Columbia, with the effects on Big White Ski Resort as an example," he said. "I deeply apologize, and recognize fully how my comments could be misconstrued as insensitive."

The point was not to diminish the devastation of the flooding, according to the statement, but "to give some certainty to the travelling public" during the holiday season.

"We know many people look forward to the holiday season, whether they are taking a ski holiday or are visiting friends or family in the Interior or on the coast," Ballingall said. "Again, I am deeply sorry and we are thinking of those affected and those on the frontline during these storms." 

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