'It was a matter of time': Jasper-area locals react to federal mismanagement of wildfire
A devastating wildfire swept through Jasper National Park and into the historic Jasper townsite July 24, claiming 30% of the town's structures.
Although Minister of Environment and Climate Change (ECCC), Steven Guilbeault, has asserted that Parks Canada, under the purview of ECCC, took all necessary steps to prevent the fire, which has been described as a wall of flames, ministry reports dating back to 2022 suggest otherwise.
Guilbeault says "years of forest management" paid off in Jasper.
— Sheila Gunn Reid (@SheilaGunnReid) July 29, 2024
30% of the town burned.
His own ministry's 2022 Jasper Park Mgmt Plan says not enough was done to clear pine beetle fuel load out of the park. Feds were warned in 2017 about potential for a catastrophe… pic.twitter.com/j7IrALmW5d
In 2017, former Conservative MP for the region Jim Eglinski raised the alarm about the amount of dead timber acting as fuel load after 44% of the park's trees had been harmed by the mountain pine beetle.
2017 pic.twitter.com/AixMEtX09f
— Sheila Gunn Reid (@SheilaGunnReid) July 30, 2024
Eglinsky's concerns were echoed by experts in 2018.
2018 pic.twitter.com/uda6VZIsLS
— Sheila Gunn Reid (@SheilaGunnReid) July 30, 2024
And then again by Parks officials in 2020 and 2022.
Parks Canada told MPs four years ago of fire risk in #Jasper.
— Holly Doan (@hollyanndoan) July 31, 2024
“One of the big concerns is the dead trees and the fuel load.”
— Darlene Upton, VP @ParksCanada, 2020 Commons environment committeehttps://t.co/zaNSiG4pAY@MBDan7 #cdnpoli pic.twitter.com/NrhC3y3NsY
DOCUMENTS: Environment Minister @s_guilbeault was told 2 years ago dead trees posed risk to #Jasper and controlled burns were necessary. @ParksCanada acknowledged it had not carried out “wildfire risk reduction measures around the Jasper townsite.”https://t.co/H61dJb3qXO pic.twitter.com/9fsLizrAob
— Holly Doan (@hollyanndoan) July 29, 2024
While officials and ministers working for the federal government make decisions about how to manage the safety of the residents of Jasper and the surrounding area, Rebel News took to the streets of Hinton, the next municipality west of the fire, to ask the locals what they think about the excuses coming out of the federal government.
Did Parks Canada and the Environment Minister(s) do enough to mitigate the Jasper fire? Did they act on the knowledge they had?
Locals don't think so.

Sheila Gunn Reid
Chief Reporter
Sheila Gunn Reid is the Alberta Bureau Chief for Rebel News and host of the weekly The Gunn Show with Sheila Gunn Reid. She's a mother of three, conservative activist, and the author of best-selling books including Stop Notley.
