In his second annual state of the municipality address, May 13, Mayor Richard Ireland spoke in length about the importance of collaboration—a topic that he’s been passionate about since his first election campaign 25 years ago.
“Those with long memories will remember the damage wrought by the adversarial relationships, politics of division and narrow self-interest of the past. While traces of old attitudes and practices still linger, happily, our community is changing,” he said, referring to the increase in cooperation and collaboration that’s been especially visible in recent months.
“In the last 12 months, in particular, we have made considerable strides,” he said, pointing to the Jasper Partnership, the Share the Spirit program, the Evergreens Foundation and the West Yellowhead Regional Waste Management Authority as just a few of the examples of that success.
“Waste management may not be an ideal topic for a breakfast meeting,” he joked to members of the Jasper Park Chamber of Commerce who were in attendance at the morning meeting, “but this is a tremendously important development in terms of securing community health and meeting our environmental obligations for decades to come in this increasingly complex and expensive area of service delivery.”
The municipality was accepted into the regional authority Jan. 1, securing long-term waste management for the community.
Another important example of collaboration, said Ireland, is the growing relationship the municipality is building with the towns of Banff and Canmore—two communities that face many of the same challenges Jasper does on a daily basis.
“We see ourselves less and less as competitors, and more and more as partners in developing the Canadian Rockies as a region,” he said, noting that through this collaboration, the three municipalities have successfully harnessed funding to examine the cost of running a tourism-based community.
“On a per capita basis, Jasper, Banff and Canmore have invested twice as much in infrastructure than comparable Alberta communities, yet only half as much as is invested in Whistler and a fraction of that invested by our US competitors.
“When the community is an integral aspect of the tourism product, we must provide service on a higher scale both qualitatively and quantitatively to enable our business to remain competitive.”
The joint study will look at these disadvantages and provide the three communities with leverage when approaching the provincial government in an effort to change the funding models that are currently in place.
“Collaboration is good for Jasper,” said Ireland. “It’s a trend that council hopes to see continue both within and beyond the community.”
Within the community, another important collaboration that will get underway this year—if all goes as planned—is a joint review of land use and planning with Parks Canada, another of the municipality’s collaborators.
The outcome of such a review could be amendments to the original agreement that designated Jasper as a specialized municipality.
“That would be monumental; not quite on par with obtaining municipal status, but enormously significant.”
To wrap up, Ireland said he is confident that the municipality has the strength, knowledge and capability to follow through with the work that needs to be done.
“Collaboration has us on a path to a future bright with promise.”
Nicole Veerman
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