Alberta Premier Danielle Smith said she has asked the Canadian government to explore an emergency wage subsidy and a suspension of lease payments for businesses in Jasper to help them cope with the aftermath of the wildfire. If the Canadian government created subsidies to support Jasper’s businesses, Smith predicted they would be able to reopen faster and begin the economic recovery. “I’ve also asked for Ottawa to consider additional federal funding under the $4 billion Housing Accelerator Fund to help Jasper take on additional land planning responsibilities,” said Smith at a Monday press conference. “Increased local controlling and resourcing will be crucial to speed up the redevelopment process.” .Smith started off the press conference by saying she joined Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Alberta Public Safety and Emergency Services Minister Mike Ellis, and Jasper Mayor Richard Ireland in Hinton to receive an update from the incident command centre and speak with Jasper wildfire evacuees. At the time, she said she and Trudeau had a conversation about Jasper’s recovery and having a unified command when dealing with the national parks to ensure the Alberta and Canadian governments are co-ordinated. In her conversation with Trudeau, she expressed gratitude for the Canadian government’s collaboration. She said working together “will only become more imperative as we look to recovery after the fires.” Incident commanders said the integration of all three levels of government has been one of the best examples of them working together on natural disasters and hopes it becomes the standard. Once re-entry is possible, she said the governments will need to tackle many priorities to ensure people’s needs are met. .She pointed out up to 350 residential structures have been lost within the Jasper townsite. In response, she said temporary housing will be a shared priority once Jasperites begin to return. As of Monday, she said owners of critical businesses have been permitted to access them to begin assessing damages and repairs as required by their insurance companies. She added bus tours for Jasperites who have lost their homes have begun. One bus left from Edmonton, and two came from Hinton. The Alberta government will be holding another town hall for Jasperites on Tuesday evening to get more information out to them. Smith concluded by saying the conversation she and Trudeau had was productive. She said she looks forward to building on this with discussions in the near future on further collaboration.Ellis confirmed three bus tours had left to Jasper on Monday. “We anticipate a tour from Valemount on Wednesday,” said Ellis. “After that, further trips will be planned in the coming days based on the number of registrations we have received, and we continue to accept registrations and communicate dates, times, and other details of upcoming trips with those who register.” If Jasperites want to register for bus tours online, he said they should go to alberta.ca/emergency or call the Alberta government at (780) 310-4455. While tours are open to all of them, priority will be given to those who have lost their homes. Alberta Wildfire Information Unit Manager Christie Tucker said 119 wildfires are burning in the Forest Protection Area of Alberta. “Of those, 15 are out of control, 44 are being held, and 59 are under control,” said Tucker. “Since the beginning of the year, we’ve had 1,033 wildfires recorded, which have burned more than 600,000 hectares.” Tucker said that is about 200 more wildfires than average and about the same hectares burned. Cooler temperatures and rain have led to minimal growth on wildfires in the last day. .Smith followed up by saying the businesses that will have the most difficult time are the ones needing to rebuild. “They were hoping they’d be able to have some kind of sharing agreement with other facilities so that those seasonal workers could stay in the region, so it may have to be tailored for that,” she said. “There are some businesses whose insurance does not cover them because even though their business is disrupted, they haven’t completely lost their building.” Therefore, their businesses do not qualify for wildfire coverage under their insurance. She said the Jasper wildfire is a unique situation for businesses. .Smith said there “is a lot of work remaining to ensure Jasper is protected and can begin to rebuild.”“I met with evacuees of the wildfire and heard their harrowing stories directly,” she said. “They have my promise we will continue to do everything we can until every family is back home.”.She described the first responders she met at the incident command centre as heroic. Trudeau said he had been briefed by first responders on the ground in Hinton. “This wildfire season has devastated communities, and firefighting efforts are still ongoing,” he said. “We’re making sure Alberta has everything they need to respond to these fires and help rebuild Jasper.”.This ordeal comes after Alberta Forestry and Parks Minister Todd Loewen became emotional on Sunday when speaking about the Alberta Wildland Fire employee who died while battling a wildfire near Jasper. READ MORE: UPDATED: Loewen chokes up when speaking about firefighter death in JasperAs Loewen fought back tears, he said the loss of a young firefighter is hard to bear as a father and grandfather. “I know that I speak unanimously among my caucus colleagues in sending heartfelt sympathies to this courageous young man’s family,” said Loewen.
