Canadians enjoy their all-too-brief summers like no other people on earth. This trait is, in part, due to long and harsh winters, but also because we are blessed with a majestic land. Summer is the best time for families to visit our lakes, oceans, mountains and forests. Canada's 41 national parks enable people to interact with Mother Nature.

For some, visiting a park is one option to consider next to a visit to, say, Europe or the family cottage. But for many mothers and fathers, Parks Canada makes the summer holidays safe, fun and affordable. Yet that trip might not be so peaceful this year.

The Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC), the union representing 4,800 Parks Canada employees, is set to strike and shut down Canada's federal parks if Ottawa does not soon meet their demands for higher pay. The outlook does not look promising. Officials have warned Canadians to be ready to make other holiday plans.

"Unless Parks Canada is willing to negotiate a speedy settlement, there will be no peace in the federal parks this summer," intoned the union boss overseeing wage negotiations at the start of the summer. More recently, a conciliator declined to make a recommendation on salaries, stating the two sides are so far apart "they're on a different planet."

The union is bargaining for a raise of five per cent in each of three years - an increase above what many private-sector workers are receiving. Parks Canada meanwhile has offered more modest increases of 2 to 3.3 per cent a year depending on the job classification. These two positions do not appear to be insurmountable.

Yet PSAC is also calling for a national rate of pay for its members. The union says it is unfair that wages are based on local salaries because employees in some provinces are paid less than those in Ontario. It wants one pay rate set, predictably, at the highest national level. According to government negotiators total union demands represent pay increases ranging from 25 to 42 per cent.

If union members wish to earn an Ontario wage, or better still a Toronto income, they should move to central Canada. Of course, that would also mean paying the higher living cost. Closing the parks down in an attempt to squeeze this unreasonable demand from taxpayers is out of bounds.

In the event of a strike Parks Canada says it will provide information so travelers can make alternate vacation arrangements. But because the union wants to retain an element of surprise it is not ready to say what type of labour tactic - picketing, rotating work stoppages, closing some parks or a full strike - it might use.

It has not been a great summer for the tourism industry. The weather has been lousy, gas prices remain high, and Americans are staying home. Independent tour operators are now concerned a strike will mean even fewer tourists visiting their communities.

PSAC is willing to inconvenience Canadians - the clients of Canada's national parks - by going on strike at the height of the summer season to maximize leverage with Ottawa. But should families be left scrambling because the parks are closed, Ottawa should be ready to ask a few simple, but pointed, questions. Such as, why do we need Parks Canada to micro-manage park operations Why should Ottawa not set standards and outsource the management, including sticky points like wage negotiations, to private operators Better still, why not allow park employees to bid on Parks Canada contracts Any of these steps would ensure the union acts more responsibly and that Canada's network of federal parks is not, in the future, shut down all at once.

The parks system is not an essential service in the same sense as police and hospital workers. But for many Canadians, our parks are an important part of summer that should not be missed because of a union's inflexibility.