UPDATE: On June 1, council passed second and third reading on a bylaw to set the tax ratio at 5:1 A move to reduce Jasper’s commercial/residential tax ratio has Jasper council split. Introduced during discussion of Jasper’s required tax rate bylaw for 2021, the idea of reducing the tax burden from n...

Most of us had a favourite teacher from school. I had a few. Mrs. Royer, in elementary school, was warm, accessible and caring. She treated all of her students equally, and I’ll never forget how hard she laughed at Grade 6 camp when my friend jumped out of his sleeping bag in his undies while she tr...

After whittling down yet another amended budget put forward by municipal administrators; after cutting and/or reallocating money for social and emergency services; and after once again postponing action on perilously underfunded municipal reserves, Jasper Municipal Council has passed a 2021 operatio...

Jasperites are writing to their elected officials to express their dissatisfaction with the Alberta government’s proposed draft K-6 school curriculum. When Cristin Murphy first saw the newly released draft in early April, she was, like many of her friends and colleagues, surprised at not only what w...

You know that dream where you’re sitting in your old high school classroom and you’ve got a test in front of you but you haven’t studied and you don’t remember seeing any of the course material before and the test is actually in hieroglyphics and—oh no—you’re not wearing any pants? I hate that dream...

Author, conservationist and former superintendent of Banff National Park, Kevin Van Tighem, wants Albertans to reimagine themselves. At a time when social, economic and environmental changes confront and confound Alberta,Van Tighem, a fourth-generation Albertan, says we need better ways of rememberi...

Who opposes the province’s decision to allow open-pit coal mining in Alberta’s Rocky Mountains? Basically everyone. So suggests Edmonton-based writer and political watcher, Dave Cournoyer ( daveberta.ca ). Cournoyer lists ranchers, farmers, environmental organizations and recreational groups among t...

Jasper’s incoming Chief Administrative Officer doesn’t see local government as politics.  “Government is about public service,” Bill Given says. “Partisanship doesn’t benefit anybody.” He’s speaking from experience. Now 43-years-old, at 24, Given was the youngest person to ever be elected to public ...

Signs, signs, everywhere a sign. Can we talk about the new signs that adorn the east and west entrances of our town? “Adorn” might not actually be the right word—that term usually applies to things which make something more attractive. Regretfully, Jasper’s new entrance signs do the opposite—like gi...

It’s municipal budget time and 2021 looks like it’s going to be a doozy. We knew this was coming. After council made big cuts to last year’s budget in order to cushion the blow to Jasper ratepayers’ wallets in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, there was going to be no other way out of the hole than...

Jasperites could be facing a 20 to 30 per cent increase over the 2020 municipal tax requisition in 2021. That was the hard pill mayor and councillors were swallowing at the October 27 Committee of the Whole meeting, where administrative staff asked for council’s direction as they worked to produce a...

When ultrarunner Kim Bessler left her truck at the Signal Mountain parking lot on the morning of August 9, she was crossing her fingers for what the majority hikers, runners and backcountry campers hope for before setting off on Jasper’s famous Skyline Trail: good weather, dry trails and a nice bree...

Social media hasn’t been the same since @Jasper_Local_Memes (no affiliation) took to Instagram. The account specializes in satirizing life in Jasper, giving a celebratory face-palm to lost tourists, rookie raft guides and ill-advised adventurers alike. We interviewed the mysterious person behind the...

I thought I came up with a pretty good metaphor for 2020 in Alberta the other day when I accidentally pepper-sprayed myself. It was particularly apt, because not only did I mace myself, I got my neighbour, too. Luckily, the can was pointing at the ground when I unintentionally popped the safety and ...

You many have noticed things are rather…strained…at Jasper Municipal Council meetings these days. While perhaps not immediately apparent, anyone who has been viewing the public meetings over Zoom the last couple of months will have noticed an uptick in tension amongst participants. Not being privy t...

Bob Covey // The Jasper Local Newspaper Fright night in Alberta came early this year. October 31 in Jasper had its fair share of ghosts and ghouls, but the real scares were being conjured up at the Alberta Legislature a week prior. Minister of Finance Travis Toews wasn’t donning a costume when he ro...

Update: Council has passed a motion reducing the town’s speed limit to 40 km/hr Whenever classic editorial fodder such as the changing of municipal speed zones are up for community debate, the old timey newspaperman in me can’t wait to wade in. Usually, after uncrossing my arms and loudly cracking m...

It’s 2 a.m. and Marissa Kidd is on her couch, nursing her newborn son . Kidd is tired—her baby boy is only a few days old and she’s hardly slept. But she’s also restless. There’s something on her mind, something that’s been brought sharply into focus ever since her second child was born. What’s trou...

Most mornings, if I’m on the ball, just before our toddler pulls out all of her toys and books and crafts and games and spreads them all over the floor, I try to get us outside. This has been much easier as of late, what with the winter finally relenting. Bundling isn’t as critical. Arguments about ...

Jasper candidate leaning on her core values Paula Cackett’s life is full on these days. The 29-year-old Jasperite is running for political office in the upcoming provincial election. As such, she’s got a bag full of lanyards, buttons and pamphlets, promoting her party’s messages. She’s got a truck f...