Government aid negotiations reach deadlock: Village of Valemount
By Abigail Popple, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, RMG
Months-long efforts to lobby the federal and provincial governments for financial support have come to a standstill, according to a press release written by the Village of Valemount and consultancy firm Strategies North.
Valemount Council hired Strategies North in November to develop and execute an Economic Recovery Strategy to recoup the costs of nearly three-week-long highway closures following the Jasper wildfire. The strategy recommended lobbying the provincial and federal governments to provide the roughly $1.5M needed to recover from the highway closures and the cost of hosting Jasper evacuees. Strategies North first appeared on the federal lobbyist registry in January, and shortly after began lobbying the B.C. and Alberta governments.
Only the Province of Alberta has committed to providing financial support to the Village, according to the press release. In April, the Alberta government announced that the Municipality of Jasper could include Valemount’s costs for hosting evacuees in its financial aid requests to the Alberta Ministry of Public Safety and Emergency Services. If granted, the Municipality will pass those funds along to Valemount.
However, the B.C. government says it will not commit to providing financial aid to the Village.
“Diana Gibson, Minister of Jobs, Economic Development and Innovation, stated on behalf of government that this kind of recovery funding was not something that the Province provided nor was it supposed to,” the release reads.
Likewise, the federal government has been unresponsive to Valemount’s requests, according to the release.
In an email to The Goat, CAO Anne Yanciw said the economic impact of the highway closures outpaced that of COVID-19. The resulting loss of hotel revenue – coupled with the Village receiving much less funding from the Ministry of Tourism under the ministry’s Resort Municipality Initiative than the previous two years – puts local businesses and non-profits in a tough spot, Yanciw said.
Local hotels collect the Municipal and Regional District Tax, a tax added to the purchase of short-term accommodation, according to Yanciw. That tax is submitted to the Province, who then returns it to the Village – which is how Yanciw knows hotels saw a 17.10 per cent decrease in the amount of taxes collected in 2024.
Not only does this mean hotels were selling less stays in rooms, it also resulted in less money from the Ministry of Tourism, said Yanciw. The money Valemount receives from the Ministry of Tourism’s Resort Municipality Initiative is calculated based on year-over-year Municipal and Regional District Tax, so last year’s decrease in that tax means less money for Valemount. That money would typically go to non-profits to fund infrastructure projects meant to improve the village’s tourism sector, but now non-profits will have to do more with less, Yanciw said.
These negative economic impacts are also a concern because it makes Valemount businesses and employees less able to weather other economic downturns, such as the forthcoming closure of the local mill, Cedar Valley Holdings, Yanciw added.
“When businesses and non-profits are all working with reduced revenues and funding, there is less ability for a community to withstand the closure of a significant employer,” Yanciw wrote. “There are fewer jobs available for those laid-off employees to go to.”
Mayor Owen Torgerson echoed Yanciw’s comments.
“My only goal is to ensure Valemount remains vibrant with places open for business,” Torgerson said. “Every dollar of the requested $1.5M will be reinvested into the community to ensure our sustainability not just for this year but lay the foundation for decades to come in the region.”
