Parks Canada bureaucrats cashed in while Jasper burned
While taxpayers fund an increasingly bloated bureaucracy, on-the-ground actions to protect lives, property, and Canada's natural heritage are left undone.
Parks Canada’s executive team has ballooned by 18% while salaries have skyrocketed by 56% since 2016—yet critical wildfire prevention efforts were ignored. As wildfires ravaged Jasper National Park, private firefighters were sidelined, and experts’ warnings were missed, leaving 30% of the historic townsite razed and $2 billion in lost assets.
Data on the Parks Canada bloat was buried in a government response to an Order Paper question submitted by Conservative MP Scot Davidson (York—Simcoe).
Alberta's United Conservative Party government publicly criticized Ottawa for its lack of action during the wildfire crisis, accusing the federal government of leaving the province to handle the disaster alone. The federal government—notably Environment and Climate Change Canada—is responsible for forestry management within national parks.
Adding to the controversy, private firefighting crews who mobilized to protect Jasper were reportedly threatened with arrest if they intervened. Kris Liivam of Arctic Fire Safety testified before the Commons Environment Committee that he assembled 20 trucks and 50 highly trained firefighters to assist in saving the Jasper townsite. However, they were ordered to stand down or face arrest and escort out of the area.
Liivam also revealed that Parks Canada had installed fire hydrants in Jasper incompatible with municipal fire departments in Alberta and British Columbia, hindering effective firefighting efforts.
Forestry expert Ken Hodges, who warned Parks Canada officials in 2017 of an inevitable catastrophic fire in Jasper National Park, testified that the agency's efforts were "insignificant and poorly thought out." He questioned the allocation of funds, noting that partial logging and fuel management could be conducted at a fraction of the cost of the $80 million reportedly spent by the minister.
While taxpayers fund an increasingly bloated bureaucracy, on-the-ground actions to protect lives, property, and Canada's natural heritage are left undone.
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.
COMMENTS
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Lynne Osborne commented 2024-11-21 10:52:29 -0500Odd how the management of the Parks system in Canada doesn’t come under the same scrutiny as say the oil sands. Could you imagine what would have happened in Suncor blew up and burned Fort Mc to the ground instead of a “climate change” fueled provincial forest fire. We wouldn’t have an oil and gas industry today. McDonalds is reportedly spending millions to de-escale negative outcomes resulting from a tainted onion incident sending a few dozen to hospital. Calgary puts hundreds of children in the hospital believed to be caused the serving of uninspected meat products and no one yet knows who was actually in charge of feeding the children. Oddly health officials were blammed for not being clear enough on the need for quality foods to be fed to todlers. This was the worst e-coli outbreak in North American history. The daycares involved in the Calgary poisoning would be government sponsored none profits one presumes, hence the secrecy. Ah yes, peace, order and good government?