In spite of the trend towards business as a key element in society and tourism, governments still play an important role in the sustainable development debate. Like any social institution, governments and related organizations do not always function effectively. When they do not, for some reason, we (academics, business people, government officials and the general public) often argue that the solution is to impose a "made in business" solution. However, given the different goals of government and the business sector, that approach may not be appropriate or necessarily successful.

This paper develops a “made in government” solution to a public institution that was not functioning well. The solution had direct impact on the sustainable development of a major national park and international tourist destination – Banff National Park, Canada. It was a creative solution that also addressed a sustainable development issue; that of providing education to people in order to develop their knowledge of the sustainable development management of natural resources. Richard Sharpley (2000) identified one of the requirements for sustainable development to be “the adoption of a new social paradigm relevant to sustainable living” (Sharpley, 2000, p. 13), which necessitates learning and hence communication.