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 ...

Last issue The Jasper Local had a bit of a field day commenting on the look of Jasper’s new entrance signs. The comments and emojis poured in on social media; everyone had a good chuckle. But our editorial was missing some context. This edition, we report on how the signs came to be in the first pla...

Electric Vehicle drivers are banging the drum for more high speed charging stations in Jasper. Bert Hogendoorn, from Sechelt, B.C., says that the Yellowhead Highway in Alberta is not EV-friendly and that as a result, more and more EV drivers are choosing to avoid the corridor altogether. “Jasper rem...

Back in 2018, JFI Foods, Jasper’s family-run wholesale grocery suppliers, was rolling. Business was good. Their fiscal year was trending to be the company’s strongest ever and the owners and employees were enjoying the November downtime before the inevitable Christmas rush. Some of them even snuck i...

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...

Parks Canada wants to know where Jasper municipal council stands on Private Home Accommodations (PHAs) in the community. A letter from Jasper National Park’s Realty and Municipal Services Manager, Moira McKinnon, dated September 30, appeared on the latest Committee of the Whole meeting agenda, along...

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 ...