Smith says feds should create subsidies for Jasper businesses affected by wildfire
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167.90149
Summary
Learn English with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Public Safety and Emergency Services Minister Mike Ellis. Minister Ellis and Mayor Mike Ellis discuss the impact of the fires in Jasper, Alberta and the need for a unified command when dealing with the national parks.
Transcript
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Earlier today I joined Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and our Public Safety and Emergency
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Services Minister Mike Ellis along with the Mayor of Jasper in Hinton to receive an update
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from the command centre and to speak with some of Jasper's evacuees. We had a conversation on
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Jasper's recovery and the need for a unified command when dealing with the national parks
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to ensure both governments are fully coordinated. In my conversation with Prime Minister Trudeau
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today I expressed our thanks for Ottawa's continued collaboration during this crisis. I also made it
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clear that working together will only become more imperative as we look to recovery after the fires.
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In fact we heard this reiterated many times by those in command that the integration of all three levels
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of government has been one of the the finest examples of us working together on these kinds
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of incidents and they hope that it would become the standard. Once re-entry is possible we will need
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to tackle many urgent priorities to ensure the needs of residents are being met. Right now it's
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estimated that upwards of 350 residential structures have been lost within the Jasper municipal boundaries.
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Temporary housing will be an overriding priority once residents begin to return and it will be
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essential for the federal government to be as flexible as possible to keep housing cited within
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the town site or to be flexible on the boundaries of the town site. Given the town's reliance on tourism
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and its inherent challenges with hiring I've encouraged the federal government to explore an
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emergency wage subsidy as well as to suspend lease payments for a few months to help businesses avoid
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layoffs. This will allow businesses to reopen faster so that tourists can return as soon as possible and
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Jasper can start recovering economically. I've also asked for Ottawa to consider additional federal funding
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under the four billion dollar housing accelerator fund to help Jasper take on additional land planning
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responsibilities. Increased local control and resourcing will be crucial to speed up the redevelopment
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process. They were already in process on doing this but this should be an opportunity to accelerate that
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local decision making. I've also indicated to the Prime Minister that owners of critical businesses have
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as of today been permitted to access their businesses to begin assessing damages and necessary repairs.
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as required by their insurance companies. We have also seen the beginning of bus tours as well for those
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who are most impacted, those who have lost their homes. There was one bus from Edmonton and two from Hinton
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today as well as we're going to be hosting another telephone town hall for residents tomorrow evening to
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get any other additional pieces of critical information out to them. Owners of businesses were given access
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today as I mentioned. Overall I think that we had a productive conversation today and I look forward to
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building on this with discussions in the near future on how we can collaborate further. Before I turn it over
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to Minister Ellis for a situation update I'd just like to reiterate our government's commitment to the
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people of Jasper and to all Albertans impacted by these wildfires. We're here for you, we're thinking of
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you. We will do everything we can to support you in the days and weeks and months ahead.