Alberta
Thank the beetle and deadwood ‘fuel’ that should have been cleared
By Josh Andrus
Originally posted in the Western Standard
Parks Canada officials admit they failed to conduct controlled burns of dead pine trees, which now pose a significant fire risk.
While Ottawa fixates on climate change rhetoric, their neglect of forest fire prevention has left Alberta’s landscapes vulnerable to devastation.
Last week, a shining beacon of the beauty of our province was partially destroyed as a wildfire burned through the picturesque town of Jasper. Our thoughts and prayers go out to the victims.
Thankfully there has been no reported loss of life. But many people’s livelihoods have been wiped out. The question is how did this happen, and what could have been done to prevent it?
Smokey Bear’s famous saying was: “Only you can prevent forest fires.” And, in this case, proactive measures certainly could have made a difference.
Unfortunately, the entire federal government seems to have forgotten Smokey’s key point. Fire prevention on national park land is federal jurisdiction.
In 2022, Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault was informed that Parks Canada managers had not taken adequate precautions to protect the Town of Jasper from wildfires, according to documents obtained by Blacklock’s Reporter. At that time, Parks Canada officials admitted they had failed to conduct controlled burns of dead pine trees, which posed a significant fire risk.
“A mountain pine beetle infestation has brought significant changes to forests in Alberta, including Jasper National Park, with consequences for wildfire risk,” Guilbeault was informed.
Almost half of Jasper’s Whitebark Pine forest, 44%, was infected by beetles. However, few steps were taken to reduce the risk to the Town of Jasper with controlled burns of the surrounding forest, records show.
“Fire has not yet been applied for Whitebark Pine restoration,” stated a 2022 implementation report. “Mechanical thinning has been completed in 1.6 hectares, which is a small area relative to the amount of Whitebark Pine habitat.”
No reason was given for failing to take precautions. Since the fire, Guilbeault has made no public mention of the management reports.
Even though federal officials, including his department, knew the raging pine beetle was a serious hazard, Guilbeault blamed climate change: “As we are seeing in Canada and all around the world, we are seeing more and more aggressive forest fires,” he said on a media call on Monday.
Landon Shepherd, Incident Commander for Parks Canada, also attributed the intensity of the blazes to climate change: “This isn’t meant to be a discussion about climate change, but anyone who’s involved in fire management can tell you that things have become more difficult, especially in the last five years, to manage impacts.”
The 2022 warnings were not the first time concerns about a lack of fire prevention in national parks have been raised.
In 2018, CBC reported concerns from experts. Emile Begin and Ken Hodges, foresters for 40 years who had been studying Jasper National Park, found multiple issues with the forest that make it susceptible to a fire.
“You have fire suppression that has occurred for many years — therefore, you get a lot of dead fuel that would have been consumed by a natural process,” Hodges said. “The mountain pine beetle adds even more fuel to the situation.”
“You’ve got a major catastrophe on your hands if you get a match thrown into that.”
When pressed about the concerns, Alan Fehr, a superintendent for Jasper National Park, said: “We’re quite comfortable with where we are with our own emergency planning and evacuation planning.”
Hodges disagreed: “The potential that’s out there is actually scary. Hopefully, we’re wrong.”
Despite the repeated warnings of potential devastation due to forest management practices, Ottawa continues to point to climate change as the cause of the fires.
The Alberta government has been preparing, and increased its firefighting budget by more than 50% to $155.4 million this year. Alberta’s firefighting budget is now the highest it has ever been (despite misinformation about cuts.)
However, without proper fire prevention on national park land, blazes can become out of control quickly — as the warnings indicated.
Smokey Bear would be horrified. Clearly, Ottawa needs to spend less time interfering in provincial jurisdiction and more time focusing on things that actually are federal jurisdiction, like fire prevention in national parks.
Their inability to see the forest through the trees and take legitimate action to protect our national parks from the fury of an out-of-control wildfire demonstrates a degree of ineptitude that is, quite frankly, shocking.
Ottawa needs to stay in its lane and focus on its own jurisdiction, and they need to stop blaming climate change for their own ineptitude.
Alberta
$8.6 billion committed: Province to fund up to 30 new schools and 8 modernizations in each of next 3 years
Alberta’s government is committing $8.6 billion to complete and open 200,000 new student spaces across the province in the next seven years.
Alberta’s population is growing exponentially as more people from across Canada and around the world choose to make the province their home. This rapid growth is causing strain on the Kindergarten to Grade 12 education system, with student enrolment increasing at historic rates.
To keep up with fast-rising student enrolment, Alberta’s government is committing $8.6 billion through the new School Construction Accelerator Program. This program will create more than 200,000 new and modernized spaces for students to learn, grow and reach their full potential. Starting in Budget 2025, Alberta’s government will kick-start up to 30 new schools and as many as eight modernizations and replacement schools every year for the next three years.
“Every student deserves a quality education in a school that can meet their learning needs and set them on a path to success in the future. As hundreds of thousands of people are choosing to make Alberta their home, we are responding by funding and building the schools our fast-growing communities need. As we build, we’re asking school boards and municipalities to work with us so we can get shovels in the ground as quickly as possible.”
The Calgary Metropolitan Area and Edmonton Metropolitan Region, along with other communities across the province, have been feeling the pressures of strong student growth and aging school infrastructure. The School Construction Accelerator Program will result in 50,000 new or modernized student spaces over the next three years – and more than 150,000 new and modernized spaces over the following four years. In total, the School Construction Accelerator Program will mean approval for up to 30 new school projects and as many as eight new modernization and replacement projects every year over the next three years. In addition to the school projects, 20,000 new student spaces will be delivered through modular classrooms over the next four years.
“We are investing in the future of our province. Through our commitment to kick-start 30 new schools each year over the next three years, we are delivering new student spaces across the province and in our fastest-growing communities for students to learn, grow and reach their full potential.”
“I look forward to working with my ministry and industry partners to build the schools Albertans need and ensuring that each project is as unique as the students who use them. School builds, modernizations and renovations support tens of thousands of jobs across the province. As Alberta communities continue to grow, this announcement will allow us to meet demands for spaces faster and more efficiently, all while creating jobs and boosting our local and provincial economies.”
The School Construction Accelerator program also takes immediate action to speed up the construction of schools by enabling school projects to be approved in-year for their next stage in the construction process without having to wait for the next budget cycle. This means all previously approved school projects currently in the planning and design stages can move forward to the next stage as soon as they are ready to do so. Through this change, 10 previously announced priority school projects are now approved for the next stage of project delivery, including six moving to full construction.
“We appreciate the government’s recognition that there is an urgent need to provide additional learning spaces for CBE students. CBE families are looking forward to new schools in their growing communities and modernizations to address aging infrastructure. Thank you to the Premier and the Government of Alberta for this much-needed investment.”
“Edmonton Public Schools is grateful for the province’s funding for school infrastructure. This crucial support will help us meet urgent needs and positively affect our students and families.”
The population growth has not only increased pressure in the public and separate school system but has increased demand for publicly funded charter programming and space needs. Public charter schools play an important role in Alberta’s education system by offering unique programming to students focused on a learning style, teaching style, approach or pedagogy not already being offered by school boards where the charter is located. As part of this accelerated program, Alberta’s government will add 12,500 new charter school student spaces over the next four years through a Charter School Accelerator pilot program.
“The Association of Alberta Public Charter Schools is elated by this historic capital announcement. It will help ensure that more families and students can access the excellent programming our public charter schools offer for generations to come.”
Independent schools offer specialized learning supports as well as religious and cultural programming to support parental and educational choice. Alberta’s government will continue to explore opportunities for a school capital pilot program for non-profit independent schools to broaden learning options for Alberta families.
Quick facts
- The School Construction Accelerator Program will deliver more than 200,000 new and modernized student spaces.
- Previously approved school projects and modular classrooms will create about 50,000 new and modernized student spaces over the next three years.
- The program will create about 150,000 additional new and modernized student spaces. This includes:
- more than 100,000 new student spaces
- more than 16,600 modernized student spaces
- more than 20,000 student spaces in new or relocated modular classrooms
From Free Alberta Strategy
For decades, Canada’s immigration policies were uncontroversial – parties across the spectrum maintained generally sensible policies.
But the current government in Ottawa has ditched this consensus, and the public mood is turning fast.
A large influx of newcomers has put a significant strain on public services and the housing market across the country.
Alberta, in particular, is feeling the strain, as our province receives both a disproportionately large share of the immigrants arriving in Canada, as well as by far the largest number of people moving between provinces.
Earlier this year, the Alberta government reported that in the year from April 2023 to April 2024, Alberta’s population had grown a record 4.11%, representing 204,677 people.
This is by far the highest annual growth rate in the country, outpacing second-place Ontario by nearly a full percentage point.
Importantly, international migration is responsible for about 68% of the increase, interprovincial migration is responsible for about 25%, and just 8% is caused by natural increase.
Another area of immigration that has significantly increased in Alberta is asylum seekers, which have more than doubled from 5,076 per year to 11,292 per year.
Of course, this represents just a small portion of the overall immigration to Alberta, and Alberta actually accepts a much smaller share of asylum seekers (about 5% of the total) compared with our population (about 12% of Canada).
But, Ottawa is now pushing to change this – they want provinces like Alberta to accept more of their “fair share” of asylum seekers – despite the fact that Alberta already receives more than its “fair share” of other types of immigrants.
Federal Immigration Minister Marc Millers says the federal government anticipates full cooperation from all provinces and territories as it strives for a fair and sustainable approach to managing the influx.
He says the federal government has “levers that we need to push and pull” when it comes to enticing provinces to agree to their terms:
“The reality is that Quebec and Ontario are facing disproportionate pressures, compared to any other province in the country – as they have been welcoming the majority of asylum seekers,” says the Minister.
“We will have proper incentives for those willing to welcome asylum seekers, and will take a holistic view with regards to other immigration programs based on participation – as this is work we cannot do alone, nor unilaterally. All options remain on the table.”
In other words, the federal government is once again planning on spending more of our tax dollars to effectively bribe the provinces’ to go along with their policies.
This idea isn’t new – Quebec has already urged the Trudeau government to disperse asylum-seekers more evenly across the provinces.
Premier Smith, however, is saying no:
“Section 95 of the Constitution is clear – immigration is an area of shared authority between the federal government and the provinces.”
“We are informing the Government of Canada that until further notice, Alberta is not open to having these additional asylum seekers settled in our province,” she added.
“We simply cannot afford it.”
Maybe, when the full details of the federal government’s plan are made public, the numbers will stack up.
But, based on past precedent, it seems unlikely.
More likely, this is just another agreement with the federal government that Alberta can’t afford to make.
Time and time again, we’ve seen the federal government approach the provincial government with a deal that – in Ottawa’s view – is good for the province.
We know, as we’ve seen with the nationalized childcare fiasco, that these deals very rarely work out for Alberta.
The Free Alberta Strategy continues to be Alberta’s shield against federal overreach, ensuring that Albertans remain in control of our future.
This issue is just the latest battle in which our unwavering defence of our provinces’ best interests can make a real difference.
If you believe in defending Alberta from Ottawa, join us!
Your contribution will help ensure that the Free Alberta Strategy has the resources and voice it needs to push back.
Donate today to stand up for Alberta’s sovereignty and sustainability!
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