Alberta premier demands apology from Jasper for critical report on devastating wildfires

National Observer

4 days ago

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith demanded Friday the fire-stricken town of Jasper apologize and retract a report criticizing her government for its role in last summer's devastating blaze.
Smith, speaking at an unrelated press conference in Edmonton, instead blamed the federal government for failing in the fire response by not asking sooner for provincial help and for not clearing out dead trees that provided fuel for the flames.
'This report come as a shot out of the blue. It's unfair, it's untrue and I would like them to withdraw it,' Smith said, adding she was disappointed the report "politicizes" what it at the same time considers an otherwise successful wildfire response.
'I would ask for an apology from the city (town of Jasper) as a result,' Smith continued.
'We want to work collaboratively with our municipal and federal partners, but pointing fingers at others when they should be looking at what they can do to improve their own response would have been a far better outcome.'
Smith also criticized the report for not accurately conveying Alberta's contributions to the ordeal, including, she said, timely deployment of firefighters and equipment and $181 million worth of support in disaster recovery funding.
The town, in a statement, said it wouldn't comment on whether it planned to issue an apology or retract the report as per Smith's demands.
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith demanded Friday the fire-stricken town of Jasper apologize and retract a report criticizing her government for its role in last summer's devastating blaze.
The statement instead said the town was grateful for her government's support during the response and in the rebuilding process, adding, 'We hope this report contributes meaningfully to the shared knowledge that strengthens emergency preparedness across Alberta.'
The report, released Thursday, was commissioned by the town and reflects a survey of more than 300 firefighters and other front-line staff who battled the blaze, which destroyed a third of buildings in the town located in the federally run Jasper National Park.
Feedback was also gathered through a one-day workshop with 68 attendees, including some from government agencies.
The report says Smith's United Conservative Party government complicated the response by regularly requesting information and by attempting to make decisions despite not having jurisdiction.
"While Alberta Wildfire actively supported firefighting operations and participated in the (Incident Management Team), jurisdictional overlap with the province created political challenges that disrupted the focus of incident commanders leading to time spent managing inquiries and issues instead of directing the wildfire response and re-entry," the report reads.
Earlier Friday, in a social media post, Smith had said the report and media coverage of it appeared "politically motivated."
At her news conference, she said her government had no involvement in the lead-up to the fire hitting the town and as such the report should've made no mention of the province.
Smith said for future fires, she'd like to see Parks Canada be quicker to ask for help.
"If you look at some of the wrecks that we've had in this province, a lot of them have started in federal parks because of their poor forest management and because of uncontrolled burns that have gone out of control," she said.
"What I would like is for Parks Canada to swallow its ego maybe a bit and work with us on a mutual aid agreement so that we can move to unified command faster."
In Ottawa, federal Public Safety Minister Eleanor Olszewski, asked by reporters to respond to Smith's remarks, said, "I don't think it's helpful for me to discuss those comments."
Olszewski said she was reviewing the report and planned to be in the town next week for the one-year anniversary of the fire.
Alberta Opposition NDP Leader Naheed Nenshi said in a statement Smith's response to the report puts politics above people's lives.
"Rather than accepting responsibility and promising to do better, they do what they always do: lash out at any criticism, insult others and refuse to accept any blame for the mistakes they have made," Nenshi said.
Bill Given, Jasper's chief administrator, said in an interview before Smith's news conference that the report wasn't to lay blame. It should be considered a chapter in an overall look at the fire response — a chapter that focuses solely on municipal improvements, he said.
"We were specifically asking, 'How can (the town) improve?' And in order to find out how you can improve, you look for gaps, you look at overlaps, you look for weaknesses, and then you go to address them."
Smith said she didn't think the report did a good enough job of accomplishing what Given said it was meant to do.
"We all have to look at what we have done in the past and how we can improve. And I don't think that Parks Canada and The town of Jasper have done an adequate job of that," Smith said.
"I hope they go back to the drawing board."