Virtual town hall aims to help Jasper businesses get back on their feet

August 15, 2024 Canuck

From highway closure to insurance, Jasper’s businesses are faced with the daunting task of figuring out how to move forward.

Jasper Park Chamber of Commerce held a virtual town hall on Wednesday afternoon to help businesses get back on their feet.

Government officials, the Alberta Chamber of Commerce and the Business Council of Alberta as well as experts in in mental health, banking, and insurance attempted to field questions from frustrated business owners.

Some businesses are considering whether to cut their losses and forgo operating this summer.

Paul Hardy owns SunDog Tours and said businesses are facing tough decisions.

“We have been having questions from quite a few people local business that have just said, ‘Would I have been better off, or am better off, just to try to even remain closed and ride out the summer?'” said Hardy, who is also a chamber board member.

“I was asked by a lot of our membership … are we going to be put in a potentially damaging spot by scrambling to open with very little commerce actually happening?”

Still concerning for some business owners is the closure of Highway 93, also known as Icefields Parkway.

“There’s an awareness of the importance of Highway 93 and essentially, without it open, we do not have a viable product in Jasper. So clearly getting that road safe to open is paramount,” Hardy said.

Chelsey Dawes, with the incident management team for Parks Canada, said crews are working to contain the perimeter around the town site as they still deal with an out-of-control wildfire.

About 25,000 people fled Jasper National Park on July 22 as a pair of wildfires drew dangerously close. Two days later, wind-whipped flames hundreds of feet high overwhelmed firefighters and entered the community, destroying about 30 per cent of the townsite.

The park has said that of the 1,113 total structures within the town, 358 were destroyed.

Matt Jones, minister of jobs, economy and trade, said there was co-ordination on all three levels of government to direct businesses to resources.

Insurance expert Aaron Fleming said there will be a variety of factors that affect how policy is crafted for business owners who have been impacted.

“If there’s a business that can be opened up and that you can continue on as normally as possible to try to make some income in there, I would strongly suggest doing that,” Fleming said.

“We know how good it is for people to do something and feel like something is normal in their lives, right? That’s what I’ve seen a lot in claims, is just to get it started and just move back forward.”

View original article here Source