Canadian parks: reservations open
Camping reservation season opened this week in several Canadian provinces — Manitoba’s first round of 2026 camping-season reservations opened Monday and Saskatchewan provincial park campsite bookings also opened the same day (ctvnews.ca) (ckom.com). Saskatchewan is offering a 25% park entry-permit discount to holders of a Saskatchewan Accessible Parking Program permit, while New Brunswick’s promised 25% resident discount on park passes is being contested amid other fee hikes (ckom.com) (tj.news).
Camping reservations for 2026 opened Monday in Manitoba and Saskatchewan, kicking off the annual rush for provincial park sites. (manitoba.ca) (saskatchewan.ca) Manitoba started bookings at 7 a.m. on Monday, April 13, with cabins, yurts and group-use areas first, then campground reservations rolling out by region from April 14 to April 17. The province’s Parks Reservation Service says 46 locations are included in the 2026 season. (manitoba.ca) (news.gov.mb.ca) Saskatchewan also opened seasonal campsite bookings on Monday, April 13. Nightly campsites, Camp-Easy yurts, group campsites, day-use facilities and swimming lessons open in stages from April 14 to April 17. (saskatchewan.ca) (parks.saskatchewan.ca) The staggered launches are meant to spread demand across several days instead of forcing every camper into one online queue at once. Manitoba said it is again using phased openings, while Saskatchewan split reservations by campsite type and date. (news.gov.mb.ca) (saskatchewan.ca) Saskatchewan paired this year’s launch with a new access measure on park entry permits. The province said holders of a Saskatchewan Accessible Parking Program permit can get 25 per cent off annual park entry permits for the 2026-27 season. (ckom.com) (saskparks.tourismsaskatchewan.com) New Brunswick is moving in the opposite political direction: the province promised residents a 25 per cent discount on daily and seasonal provincial park passes in May 2025, and that discount was also written into a regulation under the Parks Act. (gnb.ca) (laws.gnb.ca) But the New Brunswick debate has shifted to whether that discount still offsets higher park costs. The Telegraph-Journal reported criticism from Liberals’ opponents, while the province’s March 17, 2026 budget framed fee adjustments more broadly as part of its fiscal plan. (tj.news) (gnb.ca) For campers, the immediate effect is simpler than the politics: reservations are now live, and the most in-demand weekends and serviced sites are typically claimed first. In Manitoba, the last wave of campground bookings opens Friday, April 17; in Saskatchewan, the final batch opens the same day. (manitoba.ca) (saskatchewan.ca)
