Company's coming: Kouchibouguac and Fort Beauséjour spruce up for Canada's 150th

You can't invite an entire country to visit without sprucing things up, and that's exactly what Parks Canada is doing at Kouchibouguac National Park and the Fort Beauséjour and Fort Gaspareaux National Historic Sites in New Brunswick.

Parks Canada superintendent Geraldine Arsenault said many of the improvement projects, worth $4.2 million, are already underway as all parks and historic sites welcome visitors for free this year as part of the Canada 150 celebrations.

"It's a fantastic gift that the Government of Canada decided to give to all Canadians," Arsenault said.

"Whether you're from New Brunswick or whether you're from Vancouver Island you can get one of those free Parks Canada passes and go to any national historic site, any national historic park."

Most of the money — more than $3.5 million — is for Kouchibouguac in eastern New Brunswick. The work includes a dozen projects to improve signage, concession and canteen areas, interpretation panels, administration and other buildings, picnic tables, entrances and landscaping.

"Mostly in Kouchibouguac National Park we're taking a look at campground improvements," Arsenault said. "All kinds of things in the park that really need a bit of TLC."

At the For Beauséjour-Fort Cumberland national historic site at the border with Nova Scotia border, $33,000 will be spent to improve the access road and another $309,000 will be spent to remove asbestos from the museum.

"Essentially, it's taking care of deferred work or work that we haven't been able to take care of for lack of budgets to do so over the past 10 or 20 years."

At the Fort Gaspareaux national historic site in Port Elgin, which includes the military ruins and cemetery of a 1751 French fort, $52,000 will go toward improving the seawall that protects the land.

Arsenault is confident visitors will notice the work.

"They'll notice that things have been freshened up, and I do believe that it will improve the visitor experience in all of our national historic sites and national parks."

Arsenault said she is already seeing an increase in the number of visitors to Kouchibouguac and Fundy national parks since the Canada 150 celebrations began.

"We are noticing there's an effervescence around Canada 150 — people are calling and they're asking how they can get their pass. And I've noticed here in Kouchibouguac that the parking lots on the weekends are full."