February 9, 2025
Liberal super-environmentalist Guilbeault is no friend of Alberta’s UCP government — that’s no secret — but it does seem harsh for his ministry to not prioritize Jasper’s recovery; in my mind, that’s a no-brainer.

‘We’re going to lose Jasper’: Town pleads with Steven Guilbeault to fast-track recovery

Alberta’s federal bete noire is seen as the man with the power to secure Jasper’s future after devastating wildfire. ‘It’s not going well’

Canada’s Rocky Mountain parks are extraordinary. And Jasper, the mountain town that burned last spring, remains a storied place.

“I’ve been going there since I was nine, 10 years old,” reminisces Marc de La Bruyere, the 64-year-old owner of Jasper’s Tekarra Lodge. “It is a place on earth that I most love. It’s magic.”

In the 1950s, Marilyn Monroe stayed in Jasper while filming River of No Return. “She was dating, or sleeping with … Joe DiMaggio,” chuckles Marc. “And they were kicked out of the Jasper Park Lodge because they weren’t married.” So, he continues with a grin, the actress checked into the Tekarra Lodge, just down the road.

When a catastrophic fire ravaged the mountain town last July, people from near and far rallied in support of this much beloved place. Firefighters from Australia, New Zealand, Mexico and South Africa deployed alongside local emergency response crews. The feds in Ottawa, the Alberta government and the town of Jasper collaborated with Parks Canada to safely evacuate 25,000 people. Nearly six months later, the charred remains of one-third of the town have been cleared, residents are trickling back, and commercial property owners, including Marc, are desperate to rebuild.

But they see Alberta’s bete noire Steven Guilbeault, who as environment minister is the man with the most power to secure Jasper’s future, as a roadblock.

“I can’t believe Guilbeault hasn’t been out here to see what’s going on,” says Marc.

Located half a kilometre south of the Jasper townsite, Tekarra Lodge’s cabins and main lodge got clobbered by the wildfire; only the lodge’s staff and manager’s housing survived. And recovery is not going well, Marc reports in our recent conversation. “I’m very worried about the fact that it’s not going well. Because it’s not just a matter of a couple of things going sideways. I think there are real structural problems, and I don’t see a lot of real will right now to resolve those structural problems. And we have to, or we’re going to lose Jasper,” he despairs. “It’s that simple.”

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BTDT
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BTDT
January 14, 2025 2:02 pm

Jasper yesterday. LA today. The same cause, the same result.