Alberta’s deputy premier ripped apart federal officials for keeping Alberta at arm’s length during the Jasper blaze this summer. The 32,000-hectare wildfire is among Canada’s costliest natural disasters.

Deputy Premier Mike Ellis testified virtually at parliamentary committee Monday, noting: “This placed the province in a position where [it could] certainly influence [the wildfire response] but not decide.”

Parks Canada failed to perform prescribed burns in Jasper despite warning Environment and Climate Change Canada of the obvious fire risk two years ago. Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault learned the federal agency failed to act. 

“Cherished places are a priority for the Government of Canada,” Guilbeault wrote in signing a 2022 Jasper National Park Management Plan that mandated park management and controlled burns. “This new management plan for Jasper National Park supports this vision,” it said. 

Ellis called out the apparent disconnect by unified command, involving the Town of Jasper and the federal agency. He said the province is “responsible for most of the bill in regards to the recovery.”

Ellis told MPs the Alberta government held “an advisory role” despite asking for the ability to make decisions from the onset. He appeared to imply Guilbeault was behind this decision, reported the National Post.

“That’s a question … you should probably ask the minister [of environment] or the national park,” Ellis said.

Parks Canada has exclusive authority over Jasper’s zoning, development and all surrounding Crown lands under the Parks Act. 

Minister Guilbeault appeared to deflect blame onto Parks Canada at a recent media appearance.

“In 1930, Parks Canada staff called Jasper their home. Quite a number of them,” Guilbeault said. “And to think that over those decades, we would not have deployed the resources necessary … to protect the town from a forest fire is simply not true.”

The minister claimed agency staff have performed prescribed burns, cleared dead trees, and created a buffer zone around Jasper for years. “We were able to protect 70% of the town,” he said of the town. “It speaks to all of those measures we have put in place over the years.”

The total area of Jasper burned or partially burned is over 360 square kilometres. The carnage included 358 fell structures, causing nearly $900 million in insured losses.

Peter Scholz, a former senior planner of the National Park, claimed overconfident staff members allowed dead wood to build up in Jasper National Park. “You could light a match and it’s going to practically explode,” he said. “I saw it for myself.”

Committee members earlier heard from firefighter Kristopher Liivam that Parks Canada turned away a convoy of 20 fire trucks on July 25, three days after the fire broke out.

Alberta Minister of Forestry and Parks Todd Loewen also appeared virtually before the committee on Monday, using his time to urge the federal government to step up preventative measures for future wildfires.

“Parks Canada’s approach, though well-intentioned, has drawn criticism for being reactive,” Loewen told the committee.

The 2022 Jasper plan warned that acres of whitebark pine were killed off by beetles, reported Blacklock’s Reporter. “A mountain pine beetle infestation has brought significant change to forests in Alberta including Jasper National Park with consequences for wildfire risk,” Minister Guilbeault was told.

The plan proposed “wildfire risk reduction measures around the Jasper townsite” like controlled burns of dead pine. “Prescribed fire is used to maintain and augment thinned areas and restore open forests,” it said.

Pine beetles infested almost half (44%) of Jasper’s whitebark pine forest, but few steps were taken to reduce Jasper's wildfire risk, records show.

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