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...

The sale of Jasper’s largest apartment dwelling to the largest landlord in Canada has triggered Parks Canada to ask tenants of that property to prove their eligible residency. However, the agency is assuring Jasperites that anyone laid off due to COVID-19 or experiencing seasonal unemployment will n...

Destanne Norris has long-known that death is part of living.  However, it’s taken her decades to fully understand that idea. Norris lost her daughter to a tragic accident in 1995. Leah was just 19-months-old when she fell into the Maligne River and was swept away. “She just got away from our eyes,” ...

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...

Long before Brewster Transportation Canada rebranded itself under the Pursuit umbrella and three years before the Glacier Skywalk was constructed, prominent Rockies naturalist and author Ben Gadd was warning that the deteriorating moraine into which the company has cut their glacier-access road pose...

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 ...

COVID-19 is highlighting where Jasper’s economy is most vulnerable.  While Jasperites can thank their rubber tire visitors for propping up summer revenues, local tourism experts are warning that not only are we overly- dependent on international guests, but that most overseas visitors to Jasper get ...

Jasper’s Jimmy Gillese and his crew at Stellar Descents staked out a little whitewater history July 8 when they made the first ever commercial rafting trip on the Doré River near McBride, B.C.  While local rivers were at full volume last month, lower flows of visitors meant Gillese was able to get h...

While Jasper’s downtown receives piecemeal patio treatment as individual businesses owners attempt to revitalize their restaurants, the deputy mayor of Canmore says their new downtown pedestrian zone is proving popular.  Karen Marra is a first term councillor and former downtown business owner who s...

As one of the original Rockies occupations, alpine guiding has always occupied a small but sturdy foothold in the tourism sector. Part of that resiliency, surely, has to do with the job-site; for men and women wanting to test themselves against the elements—with the counsel of a qualified profession...

July 1, 2020 The Jasper Community Housing Corporation is forging ahead with plans to create affordable staff housing units on Connaught Drive. And though the JCHC hasn’t yet finalized how the housing complex will be governed, and it remains to be seen where the project’s funding will come from, to h...

Car is still king when it comes to planning a development in Jasper. Despite a request to reduce Parks Canada’s requirement of 89 stalls for their affordable staff housing complex, Jasper’s planning and development advisory committee (PDAC) couldn’t see past potential parking problems on the Jasper ...

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...

2020 Budget Breakdown // June 15, 2020 Jasper Municipal Council voted against administration’s recommended zero per centbudget increase, instead adopting a more austere financial plan to reflect apandemic-affected economy. The Jasper Local explores some of the issues surrounding that process. By Bob...

A local restaurant known for giving its patrons a reliably excellent dining experience wants to make sure local seniors have a reliably excellent transportation service in Jasper. Ashley and Mike Kliewer, owners of The Raven Bistro, have teamed up with staff at the Alpine Summit Seniors Lodge for a ...

SkiMo athlete Peter Knight has rocketed up to number one on the SkiMo circuit in Canada, but although he’s a beast on the skin track, the 30-year-old Edmontonian is arguably even more savage on social media . Knight en route to victory at Marmot’s Revenge in 2018. // Bob Covey Knight has already cha...

When 25-year-old Vanessa McGibbon decided to relocate to Jasper for a career move, she was looking forward to embracing small town living. Little did she know how much the small town would embrace her. On February 5, barely a month after she started her new job as a physiotherapist in Jasper, McGibb...

Back in 1978, Blair Timmins was living the Jasper life. When he wasn’t carving up the slopes he was tuning skis at Marmot Basin. But Timmins, fresh out of the Alberta oil patch, was frustrated with his job. The 24-year-old never had enough time to service customers’ skis properly. Between the time t...