Jasper’s rebuild has become a political football, but the town’s leadership wants no part of it

The town of Jasper, Alta., was already short hundreds of homes before an out-of-control wildfire burned one-third of the buildings down in July. After the fire, many more Jasperites are living in RVs and hotel rooms, or have been forced to move outside the community.
This week, the tourist town in the middle of the glorious mountain park got some badly needed good news. The Alberta government will order and install 250 modular homes for displaced residents. As many as 100 of the homes, to come from yet-unnamed, high-end manufacturers, could be ready for move-in by January. The homes will be rented for market price or less.
Jasper Mayor Richard Ireland has an even greater wish: that these productive announcements to help people restart their lives continue, and that bigger political battles don’t slow progress.
“The people of Jasper are relying on us to get this housing in the ground,” Mr. Ireland said at the provincial news conference. “It is critical stuff – it cannot be delayed on the basis of factional sparring.”
Earlier this month, Mr. Ireland used another public event to lambast the “unhelpful and divisive rhetoric” around the Jasper wildfire, according to the local paper, the Jasper Fitzhugh.
“The present atmosphere of finger-pointing, blaming … and misinformation is, from my perspective, beyond merely an annoying distraction,” he said.
“It delays healing. It introduces fresh wounds and fosters division, precisely at a time when we need recovery and unity.”
He didn’t specify what he was talking about, but the backdrop is mudslinging in the House of Commons. Since Parliament reconvened in September, Conservatives MPs have charged that the federal government – responsible for national parks – has neglected forest-fire prevention. They say local MPs’ long-standing concerns about the dead, dry forests left by mountain pine beetle infestations have gone unaddressed. They have also emphasized concern about the bureaucratic hurdles that slowed firefighting efforts.
Calgary Conservative MP Jasraj Singh Hallan went as far as to say that Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault “let Jasper burn, because of his incompetence.” Mr. Guilbeault has often shot back, saying the Conservatives have been spreading disinformation, including about the debate between prescribed burns or the mechanical removal of trees.
“I know it’s hard for the Conservative Party to admit it, but we’re facing extreme weather events that we’ve never seen before, whether it’s forest fires, floods or tropical storms,” he said at a House of Commons committee meeting.
Mr. Ireland, who lost his home of nearly seven decades in the fire, doesn’t appear to want any part of this.
Employment Minister Randy Boissonnault is the lone Alberta MP in the federal cabinet and has been given the job of co-ordinating the rebuild of Jasper. A spokesperson for the minister said Monday that the Alberta government should submit a claim for the housing under the Disaster Financial Assistance Arrangements program, “at which point the federal government will be able to support with up to 90 per cent of the cost.”
Mr. Boissonnault’s office also highlighted the news last week that Ottawa will help the tourist-reliant town with a $3-million campaign to bring international visitors back.
In all of this, it’s notable that Mr. Ireland said Monday that the province made its $112-million announcement on modular housing even when all the details regarding which level of government will pay haven’t been sorted out yet. He felt the need to express his gratitude to Jason Nixon, the Alberta minister responsible for housing, for putting aside “partisan fights that we have seen in the past.”
Mr. Nixon is part of a government that has never been shy about being combative in its dealings with Ottawa, with cause and without, and is aligned with Pierre Poilievre’s Conservatives on many issues. He said given the situation in Ottawa – i.e. the minority Liberal government and questions about Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s leadership – a federal election could come at any time. Mr. Nixon said he wanted a housing announcement before that.
Rebuilding the town of Jasper will be a long, complex task. But it’s not as difficult as energy and climate policies for a large, diverse country economically reliant on resource extraction and oil exports. There are legitimate questions about forest and fire management in the national parks to be explored by House committees. It’s also clear that rapid climate change means that forest fires are going to become much more common and extreme, everywhere.
All those truths don’t change the fact that Jasper residents need homes this winter. The fight between the political left and right, or Ottawa and Alberta, will not be extinguished. But it can be tamped down, as Mr. Ireland hopes, to get the rebuild done.