To help mountaineers decide whom to vote for the MCofS decided to organise a Mountain Issues Election Hustings in which we put the same question to each of the parties, and asked them to answer in no more than 300 words. We have been totally fair and equitable in our treatment of each party. They were all sent the same letter on the same day and given the same deadline. Furthermore, we are making no comment on their responses, just printing them as received for you to read and draw your own conclusions. The question was:

"What would your party do to promote the increased protection of Scottish mountains during the next term of the Scottish Parliament, and what importance do you place on people's enjoyment and appreciation of our finest mountain areas?"

And their answers:

Scottish Green Party	Scottish National Party	Scottish Conservatives
Scottish Socialist Party	Scottish Liberal Democrats	Scottish Labour Party

Scottish Green Party The best way to protect our mountains under the new Access regulations is education and involvement. I encourage groups such as SWT, BTCV, and the John Muir Trust as much as I can, and so should we all. I have campaigned steadily in Parliament through Parliamentary Questions and interventions for the Executive to invest in Outdoor Education. I would like to see an Outdoor Education co-ordinator in every school in Scotland, money put back into our outdoor education centres, and an encouragement to Local Authorities to co-operate to achieve scales of efficiency that would allow them to invest in outdoor centres at the same level as in the 80's. We also need more education in the outdoors at Primary and Lower Secondary levels to encourage understanding of our environment and a culture of care and consideration. Most of this could be achieved with relatively little extra funding - just better focusing of what is available at present. The Cairngorms are amongst the most attractive of our mountain areas, and the setting up of the Cairngorms National Park should bring attendant benefits in the form of improved planning and better funding for conservation. However, the pressures of increased tourism and the funicular on the Cairn Gorm itself are going to produce greater pressures in an incomplete park governed by a flawed governance arrangement. Highland Council are unable to commit themselves to the Sandford Principle which suggest that for the immediate future, development is likely to be given priority over environmental considerations, where the two are in conflict. I shall campaign within the Scottish Parliament, if I am re-elected, to have the plans called in, the sensible original boundary including North Perthshire to be reinstated, and for a National Parks Authority with full planning powers following the pattern set in the Loch Lomond National Park. I would like to see the Cairngorms achieve World Heritage Status. The Park can only achieve World Heritage Status through implementation of the improved arrangements. I shall continue to campaign for this.