Schow talks Jasper, absentee feds, and border security

Posted on February 20, 2025 by Vauxhall Advance

By Cal Braid
Vauxhall Advance
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

When Jasper was struck by wildfire in July 2024, the people in one of the province’s most majestic regions suffered serious personal, structural, ecological, and economic losses. Almost six months later with recovery efforts ongoing, the outlook and landscape have been altered, but the park is no longer off limits.

 Before the devastation of the fires, Joseph Schow, MLA for Cardston-Siksika and Alberta’s Minister of Tourism and Sport, had embarked on a strategic mission to strengthen and grow Alberta’s tourism sector. The Rocky Mountain national parks were major players in that sector and had been for decades, but when roughly one-third of the Jasper townsite structures were destroyed, it triggered a sense of loss on levels that went far beyond brick and mortar surfaces. During a press debriefing at the time, Premier Danielle Smith reflected the feelings of many as she struggled to speak through tears.

 Since then, Schow has returned to promoting Alberta’s finest tourist attractions and is already pointing visitors back in Jasper’s direction. In a recent discussion, he spoke about the fire’s impacts.

“You can’t really put a price on the value of Jasper and how crucial it is to our tourism sector,” he said. “Banff, Jasper, Lake Louise are what I would call crown jewels of this province’s tourism. I can say that Jasper is already on the road to recovery. There’s lots of work to do there, but Marmot Ski Hill is open. There are lots of other attractions that are available in that area, and I encourage Albertans and Canadians and even international travelers to go to Jasper, because Jasper is open.”

 But tourism strategies aside, Schow has been perturbed by the federal government’s distant response to the disaster; a snapshot of the feds as absentee landlords of a western national park.

 “I’m incredibly disappointed with the federal government and how poorly they have addressed the crisis in Jasper,” he said. “Our province has been on top of this since the fires took hold in Jasper, and continue to work with the community there and in Tourism Jasper.”

 “The federal government is completely missing in action here, and it is incredibly offensive to the province and to us, the people who have spent their lives and livelihoods building that community, only to have the federal government let them down. So I think it’s really disappointing and, frankly, offensive,” he said without a trace of hesitation.

 After a wide-ranging conversation about his ministry’s initiatives and programs, Schow took a moment when asked if there was anything else on his mind or agenda. He said, “I think locally, it’s important to note how seriously we take the issues of a provincial scope that would affect us. Locally, we take the border very seriously, and that’s why our province has put more border support down there by the U.S. border at Montana, understanding that this is a very important sticking point for Donald Trump as he considers tariffs on our province.”

 The premier has been vocal and proactive on the tariff threat, pulling the trigger on beefed-up border security and even going so far as to visit Trump at his home in Florida. Schow’s support for her could not be more evident.

 “I’m so proud of our premier, who has taken a leadership role meeting with the incoming president to help him understand the importance of Alberta’s vital sectors like agriculture and energy, and I’m grateful that she’s been a stalwart defending Alberta’s best interests,” he said.

 He said the province has also committed to several billion dollars in funding for education and building more schools. “People are coming here in record numbers, and they need a place to put their kids in school, and so we’re answering the call there as well. I’m just very grateful that we have the leadership of our premier, Danielle Smith, to recognize the important issues pressing on our province and to push back at the federal government where they’re intruding and advocate for us on the international stage where the federal government has failed us.”