After decades of hearing locals’ ranting about how Sun Peaks Resort Corporation (SPRC), Tourism Sun Peaks (TSP), Sun Peaks Utilities Company Limited (SPUCL) and now Sun Peaks Mountain Resort Municipality (SPMRM) should do this and that to improve this, that and/or the other in our community, I feel compelled to let those that rant about these bodies know how it works around here.
Firstly, SPRC isn’t an omniscient big brother to all that is Sun Peaks Resort, but merely a wholly owned subsidiary of Nippon Cable of Japan, a privately held company with resort holdings in various parts of the world. SPRC’s role in Sun Peaks is to operate the ski hill, golf course and other resort features within the Controlled Recreation Area (CRA) as well as to develop real estate land in the base area of the CRA as visitor numbers grow. This is all structured and governed under a 50 year Master Development Agreement (MDA) with the Province of B.C.
TSP isn’t a little brother of SPRC as many people think, but a non-profit membership-based Destination Marketing Organization (DMO) that’s governed by a member-based Board of Directors. Membership is based on real estate or business holdings in Sun Peaks and, like any DMO, TSP is bound by the Society Act of B.C as a non-profit organization and by the Resort Associations Act of B.C. with regard to the fees and dues it charges it members, of which SPRC is the largest contributor.
TSP’s mandate, somewhat vaguely described, is to use their members’ fees and dues to market Sun Peaks Resort to the rest of the world to increase visitor numbers.
SPUCL, on the other hand, is a wholly owned subsidiary of SPRC and is a private water, sewer and gas utility company that’s governed by the British Columbia Utilities Commission (BCUC) and the Water Utility Act (WUA).
Now throw the relatively new local government of the Sun Peaks Municipality (property taxes, roads, bylaws, etc.) into the mix and who does what in Sun Peaks may get confusing, unless you either pay close attention to these types of things or just ask the right questions of the right people.
Do the SPRC, TSP, SPUCL and SPMRM business lines cross from time to time? Absolutely. Does any one entity have control of any other’s business model or mandate? Absolutely not, unless you’re talking SPRC and SPUCL. So, to all those that still think the SPMRM is controlled by SPRC and that TSP is in control of the MDA as a DMO within the CRA, then you might want to study what SPMRM has to do with the BCUC or the WUA before spouting off that SPRC should plow the roads and that TSP should get the SPMRM to lower the gas prices at SPUCL so they can better market the resort.
You’ll only be as informed as you care to be and should you really care about your community, you’ll inform yourself about what really happens in it.
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