UCP Minister Jason Nixon said on Friday that Parks Canada has been roadblocking the rebuilding of Jasper, they’re barely getting any communication from Ottawa, and that housing would be rebuilt by now if they had control over the national park.
The massive fire that started on July 22 in Jasper National Park, which is managed by Parks Canada, resulted in the evacuation of over 20,000 people, including 5,000 residents, and burned down 30% of the town of Jasper’s structures.
Now, the UCP says the feds and municipality of Jasper are roadblocking the rebuilding of the town.
“If this was anywhere other than a National Park, we’d already have housing standing up,” Minister Nixon said.
Nixon noted the “state of chaos” in Ottawa, referencing the fact that many of Trudeau’s closest allies, such as Chrystia Freeland and Sean Fraser, have recently quit cabinet, with Freeland publicly criticizing Trudeau.
“Me and Minister McIver who are the primary leads for the recovery of Jasper have not had a counterpart for months since [Randy Boisanneault] left cabinet.”
Nixon said Premier Smith sent a letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Thursday, asking Ottawa to step up, and not just to rebuild the homes burned down, but additional homes to accommodate the town’s housing needs that existed even before the fire took place.
The UCP announced a $112 million investment in October for the town of Jasper, but Nixon says they don’t have clarity from the feds or the municipality on how to invest it in the community.
“At the end of the day we can invest but we don’t control the land or the area inside the national park – the federal government does,” he said.
A long-standing and well-known pine beetle infestation turned many trees into potential fuel for fires. Documents reveal Parks Canada was informed in 2017 of the infestation and resulting tinderbox conditions in Jasper National Park.
In October, it was revealed that Parks Canada, the federal agency overseen by Minister Steven Guilbeault, rejected help from qualified fire fighters and 20 fire trucks during the Jasper National Park wildfire.
Parks Canada also refuses to say when they warned Guilbeault about Jasper’s pine-beetle infestation.
