On Friday, BC Premier Gordon Campbell visited storm hit Stanley Park and promised up to $1 million dollars per year for the next four years to help fund its restoration. The only qualifier on the funds was that the city match the grant amount each year, which means a total of up to $8 million dollars for the historic parkland site.

The promised aid is the largest to date and follows on an offer made by local billionaire Jimmy Pattison to match up to $1 million in public donations, in addition to an unspecified promise of aid from newly appointed federal Environment Minister John Baird made during his visit to the park on Tuesday.

History: Stanley Park is the third largest city owned park in North America and covers approximately 1,000 acres. In 1886, the city of Vancouver applied to the federal government to have the area - a former a military base - leased to the municipality as a park. The feds agreed and on September 17, 1888 Stanley Park was officially opened. Named after Lord Stanley of Preston, Governor General of Canada and benefactor of hockey's historic Stanley Cup, the park remains a centre piece of one of the world's most livable cities.