Dear <politician_name>,
I am writing as a resident of <electoral_district> to ask you to support the Canadian Council of Snowmobile Organizations' (CCSO) request for a federal fund to invest in Canada's snowmobile trail network, and to ensure that winter trail infrastructure is recognized as eligible under federal infrastructure and climate funding programs.
<supporter_personal_comments>
Canada's 131,000 kilometres of managed snowmobile trails make up the largest volunteer-driven recreational trail network in the country. They support 1.5 million riders, sustain 66,000 jobs, and generate approximately $20.6 billion in annual economic activity and $3.6 billion in tax revenues. Every dollar a snowmobiler spends produces between $1.50 and $2.00 in total economic activity, a multiplier that flows directly into rural main streets, gas stations, restaurants, and family-run lodges.
These trails are not just recreational. In northern, rural, and Indigenous communities, they function as multi-use corridors for hikers and cyclists in summer, and as essential routes for trade, supply transport, and emergency access in winter. They are part of the fabric of rural connectivity in this country and are integral to a healthy and vibrant rural economy.
Importantly, these trail systems also provide reliable, year-round access points for emergency vehicles, including firefighters battling wildfires, paramedics, and search and rescue teams, ensuring rapid response capability in remote and hard-to-reach areas.
The system is approaching a breaking point. Much of the trail infrastructure (bridges, culverts, signage) and the grooming equipment that keeps it usable is more than 25 years old. Extreme weather and freeze-thaw cycles, accelerated by climate change, have rendered hundreds of kilometres of trail impassable. Unlike roads, transit, or active transportation, winter trails sit outside Canada's major federal infrastructure and climate adaptation programs, leaving an investment gap that volunteer organizations cannot close on their own.
I am asking you to take two specific actions:
1. Create a federal fund, as championed by the Canadian Council of Snowmobile Organizations, to replace aging trail groomers, rebuild bridges, culverts, and staging areas, repair weather-damaged trail sections, and upgrade safety signage and emergency shelters across the country.
2. Work to ensure that winter trail infrastructure is explicitly eligible under federal infrastructure, rural, and climate adaptation funding streams, such as the Build Communities Strong Fund, so that this generational gap is not repeated and rural and northern communities benefit equally from federal investment.
This investment will strengthen Indigenous partnerships, build climate resilience into Canada's winter infrastructure, and protect a sector that delivers measurable, locally rooted economic returns. I strongly encourage you to work with the CCSO and their partners across Canada to ensure the viability of this important industry for decades to come.
Sincerely,
<full_name>
<electoral_district>
<postal_code>
?