The race for town council is on.

It’s exciting, not just because there’s a slate of worthy candidates, but also because in a small town, residents know many of the people in the running personally.

But for the same reasons that make them exciting, small town political races run the danger of turning a healthy democratic process into little more than a popularity contest.

Instead of who bought you a drink at happy hour or the fact that candidate X high-sticked your goalie in beer league hockey, what should matter is how individuals are going to work on the myriad of issues if they get the job. 

But there is much to learn about the workings of a municipality. As such, according to Jasper’s top administrator, Bill Given, councillors—and especially newly elected councillors (of which there will be at least two on October 20)—should come to the role with a curious mind.

Given, who spent nine years as a councillor and 11 years as mayor in the city of Grande Prairie before taking the CAO job here in 2020, said having an openness to new information is one of the keys to being an effective council member.

“There’s so much to learn about how local government works, nobody comes to the table with all that knowledge,” Given said. “They absolutely should come with opinions and perspectives, but they should also be curious about learning more and have an opennesss to new things that they didn’t know before.”

With that said, here are some of the top issues that the members of the 2025-2029 Jasper municipal  council will likely be wrestling with over the course of their term. 

Establishing priorities

One of the largest decisions of council’s calendar year happens pretty much right out of the gate. In January, the newly-elected council will establish their strategic priorities—goal posts to guide the group’s decision making for the coming year. Before the wildfire, the current council established six priorities: Community Health; Housing; Relationships; Environment; Organizational Excellence; and Advocacy.

In July 2025 they updated that to include Wildfire Recovery. Within those broad themes, council identified 31 individual strategic actions to pursue. It will be interesting to see if the new council sees their priorities and actions as the same, similar, or completely different than their predecessors’. One thing is certain: the October 20 vote will help shape the answer to that question.

Guiding recovery

Jasper’s ongoing recovery from the July 2024 wildfire will obviously be at the top of the list for the next council, but what exactly that recovery looks like will be in large part up to elected officials. Striking a balance between what services the community desires, how staff and resources need to be structured, and what type of financial commitments the municipality can sustain, will be top of mind for all councillors.

Related to that includes decisions on how the municipality deals with the financial pressures arising from being on the hook for 10 percent of the provincially-allocated Disaster Relief Program funding, which currently sits at about $73 million. 

Advancing non-market housing

Together with MOJ administration, the current council has done a lot of leg work to advance non-market housing (i.e. affordable housing owned and operated by government agencies or non-profit organizations) in Jasper. Right now, for example, foundational work is underway for a 40-unit affordable housing complex on Connaught Drive.

It will be up to the next council to take the housing baton and run with it, and thanks to the federal government’s focus on housing there should be plenty of opportunities to make a sustained dash. Still, it will require a lot of work and pulling in the same direction. Council will have to work with the Jasper Municipal Housing Corporation and Parks Canada to ensure that non-market housing continues to progress.

Adapting to climate change 

Few places have such firsthand experience in the importance of climate change resiliency as Jasper, but it didn’t take a wildfire for the current council to want to demonstrate leadership in this arena—they had a Climate Risk Assessment Report commissioned in January of 2024 and more recently, adopted a Climate Risk Adaption Plan. But although the current council adopted it, it will be up to the next council to decide how to implement it. 

Balancing the tax burden 

There’s been a long standing discussion of the tax burden in Jasper—that is, the structuring of how non-residential (commercial) properties and residential properties contribute to Jasper’s tax requirement. The current ratio is 5:1—commercial property owners pay five times more than residential property owners. Unlike commercial businesses, residential properties can’t leverage money from visitors (private home accommodations notwithstanding), so past councils have arrived at the 5:1 ratio in the name of an equitable solution (it’s historically been as high as 7.5:1).

But there’s never been a discussion at the policy level on who should pay for services that residents and visitors require, and with a new council set to be sworn in this November, it’s likely that questions facing the new group will include What does fiscal responsibility look like? How do we apportion our costs? If new revenue sources are found, should those be used to fund new services or reduce costs—and, if the latter, reduce costs for whom?

Examining municipal infrastructure 

Council will be focused on recovery and there aren’t any big ticket items or initiatives in the 2026 capital budget, so it’s probably a safe bet that Jasper’s capital program will be less ambitious in the incoming council’s term than in recent years. But needs and wants always crop up and it’s partly the role of councillors to have a vision for their community’s growth. When it comes to municipal infrastructure, some candidates will have austerity on their mind while others will be more aspirational. 

Considering transit

Despite a small but loud chorus on social media suggesting transit in Jasper suffers from low ridership and the program should therefore be axed, statistics on the municipality’s website show that the numbers have consistently exceeded forecasts in the transportation strategy approved by council in 2023.

Regardless, because of the fascination that some segments of the community seem to have with local transit, it seems like this could be an “election issue.” The new council will have the opportunity to fundamentally consider transit, including but not exclusive to: influencing whether Jasper continues to contract a service provider or procure its own fleet; continuing the regional service; or discontinuing Jasper transit entirely. 

Engaging with residents

Councillors don’t decide everything in this community, and it’s worth reminding residents that there are opportunities to communicate directly with the municipality—through the online portal Engage Jasper; by taking advantage of the space for delegations during regular council and committee meetings; and through increased feedback opportunities via public hearings, for example.

Having said that, council is ultimately responsible for making policy and high-level governance decisions and the seven individuals who sit on council are the ones whose votes count toward influencing the direction that the good ship S.S. Jasper sails. A councillor should represent constituents, but also stay true to his or her own values. Finding a middle ground between the two can be one of the hardest things an elected official has to do.

Being part of a team 

CAO Bill Given also noted that the success of individual councillors is typically determined by the success of the group. As such, the ability to work respectfully with others—particularly those with whom you disagree—becomes paramount. 

“I think if a councillor comes to the table with that openness to new information, a curiosity about things, a willingness to learn and can work with others respectfully, they’re probably going to be successful.”

Learn more about the candidates running for municipal office by checking out our Candidate Profiles and then make your informed vote on October 20 between 10 a.m. and 8 p.m. at the Jasper Activity Centre.

Bob Covey // bob@thejasperlocal.com