One year ago, a partnership was born.
It was one that broke down walls, opened doors and brought together members of the municipality, Parks Canada, Tourism Jasper, the Jasper Park Chamber of Commerce, Marmot Basin and the Jasper Hotel Association.
The goal: to come up with ways to fight against the increasing competition from regional and international markets and to grow Jasper’s tourism economy, ensuring the community’s long-term sustainability.
To achieve the goal, the municipality set out to create an environment of collaboration, and so the Jasper Partnership Initiative was born.
“We’re talking, the doors are open and the walls are coming down,” said Mary Darling, CEO of Tourism Jasper.
Darling, who has been a member of the partnership since its inception last summer, points to Jasper in January’s 25th anniversary celebration as an example of the partnership’s success. Without the meetings, there never would have been a rail jam in the parking lot or a learn to ski area on the information centre lawn, she said.
“All of that was happening because we were all sitting down at the same table and trying to get to the same goal; never before have we been able to do that.”
Peter Waterworth, the chief administrative officer for the town and the partnership’s outgoing chair, agreed.
“It’s changed the way people think, I think that’s the key thing,” he said, noting that he no longer has to chase down answers after hearing rumours around town—rather, if there’s something to know, he’s kept in the loop. “if somebody’s doing something, they’ll tell me and visa versa.
“It’s now second nature for people around that table to communicate information to each other.”
Waterworth, who is leaving Jasper and his position with the municipality at the end of the month, said being a part of the partnership has been incredibly rewarding.
“I just think it’s got a huge amount of promise for the future.
“It will have to go further, but it’s certainly the thing I’m proudest of since I’ve been here—how that has moved forward,” he said.
Aside from Jasper in January and the entire Jasper Celebrates initiative—celebrating all of Jasper’s anniversaries in 2014—Waterworth said the partnership has accomplished a lot of other things.
For example, it has garnered grant money from the provincial government to further Tourism Jasper’s event tourism strategy, and it has brought together the people who can make that strategy successful.
And it has also started the ball rolling on plans for the 150th anniversary of Canada’s confederation.
“Everybody around the table is already talking about a collective approach to the anniversary—If I had said that to you a year ago, you probably would have laughed,” said Waterworth, noting that this atmosphere of collaboration is now spilling into other areas in the community.
That can be seen, he said, with the work being done by the municipalities of Jasper, Hinton, Edson and Yellowhead County as the four organizations lobby the government to change the security status of the Edson Airport. It can also be seen with the collaborative work being done with Banff and Canmore to demonstrate the unique challenges of running and maintaining a resort municipality in Alberta.
“The partnership has changed the way people think,” said Waterworth. “That’s the key thing, and I think it’s increasingly going to change the atmosphere between organizations, increase trust and promote better outcomes for Jasper.”
“Sometimes it may appear we’re sitting there, but we’re trying to work together and trying to make the community the best it can be,” added Darling. “Within a year, we have certainly accomplished a lot.”
Check out next week’s Fitzhugh to find out more about one of the projects the partnership is working on for February 2015.
Nicole Veerman
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