Alberta Premier Danielle Smith has told Prime Minister Justin Trudeau a unified response is essential for rebuilding Jasper.
Trudeau and Smith both visited Hinton on Monday (Aug. 5) to receive a situational briefing on the Jasper wildfire and meet with evacuees and members of the unified command unit.
“This wildfire season has devastated communities, and firefighting efforts are still ongoing,” Trudeau wrote in a post on X.
“We’re making sure Alberta has everything they need to respond to these fires and help rebuild Jasper.”
In a wildfire update later in the afternoon, Smith told media she expressed thanks to the prime minister for Ottawa’s continued collaboration during this crisis.
“I also made it clear that working together will only become more imperative as we look to recovery after the fires,” Smith said.
“In fact, we heard this reiterated many times by those in command that the integration of all three levels of government has been one of the finest examples of us working together on these kinds of incidents, and they hoped that it would become the standard.”
Smith explained re-entry to Jasper would require many urgent priorities to be addressed, noting that upward of 350 residential structures have been lost within municipal boundaries.
“Temporary housing will be an overriding priority once residents begin to return, and it will be essential for the federal government to be as flexible as possible to keep housing sited within the townsite or to be flexible on the boundaries of the townsite.”
She also encouraged the federal government to explore an emergency wage subsidy and suspend lease payments for a few months to help businesses avoid layoffs.
“This will allow businesses to reopen faster so that tourists can return as soon as possible, and Jasper can start recovering economically,” Smith said.
In addition, Smith is asking Ottawa to consider additional federal funding under the $4 billion Housing Accelerator Fund to help Jasper take on additional land-planning responsibilities.
“Increased local control and resourcing will be crucial to speed up the redevelopment process,” Smith said.
“They were already in process on doing this, but this should be an opportunity to accelerate that local decision making.”
She told Trudeau owners of critical businesses, as of Monday (Aug. 5), have been allowed to access their businesses to begin assessing damages and necessary repairs as required by their insurance companies.
“Overall, I think that we had a productive conversation today, and I look forward to building on this with discussions in the near future on how we can collaborate further,” Smith said.
She reiterated the province’s commitment to the people of Jasper and all Albertans impacted by the wildfires.
Bus tours begin for evacuees
Some evacuees were finally able to see the townsite with three bus tours taking place Monday (Aug. 5).
One was from Edmonton, and two were from Hinton, with 62 residents taking part out of 563 who have registered.
The bus tours had been delayed by 24 hours out of respect for a firefighter who was killed in addition to the dangerous wildfire conditions.
A tour from Valemount is scheduled for Wednesday (Aug. 7).
“Further trips will be planned in the coming days based on the number of registrations that we have received,” said Mike Ellis, minister of Public Safety and Emergency Services, during the update.
“And we continue to accept registrations and communicate dates, times, other details of upcoming trips directly with those registered.”
Jasper residents can sign up for bus tours online, with priority access given to those who have lost their homes.
Residents will not be allowed to get off the buses while inside the closed area, and tours are subject to cancellation based on wildfire conditions.
“I understand these tours are a critical component of the healing and recovery process, and we're going to make sure that all Jasper residents affected by the fires have a chance to tour the community prior to re-entry,” Ellis said.
“This is contingent on conditions remaining safe enough for the tours, as safety will always be our government's first priority.”
Editor's note: The briefing took place Monday, Aug. 5, not Aug. 3 as originally reported.
