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Alberta Premier Jason Kenney spent the long weekend in Jasper - part of his summer tour of the province - and took part in a round table to discuss Alberta’s tourism recovery.
On Tuesday morning, Kenney met with representatives from the Municipality of Jasper, Parks Canada, Tourism Jasper and small business leaders to understand the impact of the COVID-19 crisis on their businesses, and discuss how the tourism industry will move forward in the coming weeks as they prepare for the winter season.
Before the round table, Kenney stopped by the Fitzhugh office. He said he had spent the weekend with friends hiking and enjoying the nature of Jasper National Park.
As part of his trip, the Premier also visited Jasper Planetarium for a show and telescope tour, an experience he said he thought was “awesome”.
“I had no idea that whole project existed and just think it’s brilliant,” said Kenney.
“I just love that it’s a little business that’s succeeding and they’ve figured out how to innovate in the COVID context and just shows how innovative Albertans are.”
Kenney said he loved learning more about Jasper as a Dark Sky Preserve - what a great tourism draw it can be, and its benefits to wildlife and the environment.
He also complimented Jasper’s new sidewalk seating expansion project and said the set-up is similar to mountain communities in Europe.
“I think that’s great as well,” he said. “Sometimes, they say, necessity is the mother of invention.”
On mandatory masking
A hot topic in Jasper, we asked Kenney why the provincial government had not made masking mandatory across the province.
He said the Government of Alberta strongly recommends that masks should be used in places where people cannot physically distance, but has not received a recommendation from the chief medical officer of health Dr Deena Hinshaw to make them mandatory.
“It’s a very big and very diverse province and what makes sense perhaps in a crowded bus in downtown Calgary makes a lot less sense in a barn in rural Alberta that might be 100 kilometres from an active case,” said Kenney.
“So, if municipalities decide they are going to impose mandatory mask bylaws then that’s under their authority but I think that a one-size-fits-all approach across this vast province would be counterproductive.”
Kenney added that there are challenges with enforcement of mandatory masking and said one thing he wants to avoid in Alberta is the politicisation of masks, as seen in the America.
“Some people feel that, [if] they are now being mandated by the government to do it, some people won’t do it just as a statement of standing up to the state,” he said.
Kenney said if the government had received advice from the chief medical officer of health to make masking mandatory “it would be a different matter”.
“Dr Hinshaw has taken a very common sense approach to these issues,” he said. “She’s said from the get-go that we can’t enforce our way out of the crisis and so we’ve tended in Alberta to take a slightly lighter touch when it comes to penalties and sanctions and rules.
“More of an approach to public education and facilitation, which is why we’ve given out free masks.”
Provincial park sales ‘political mischief’
When asked about the closing of provincial parks and its potential effect on Jasper National Park, Kenney said: “We’re not closing any provincial parks and we’re not selling any.
“In fact, if anything, we’ve seen probably the largest ever traffic and demand for provincial parks this year because of COVID because lots of people are staying at home and some of the ‘staycation’ pressure has resulted in unprecedented demand on our provincial park system.”
Kenney said NDP leader Rachel Notley is “creating political mischief” with her ‘Don’t Go Breaking My Parks’ campaign.
He said the government is trying to find partners like local non-profit organizations, First Nations, municipalities, park societies, to, on a contract basis, service some small campgrounds characterized as parks for the government.
“We have no intention of, we will not be selling any provincial parks. Period. Full stop,” he said.
