The Lions
Politics • Culture • Education
A group of friends with mostly centrist or conservative viewpoints who share resources and ideas about the governance of Alberta and Canada and about world events and trends.
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September 27, 2024
MPs press ‘NOT MY JOB’ Guilbeault to take responsibility for Jasper wildfire disaster

The Commons Environment Committee on Wednesday evening blamed Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault’s poor oversight for the disastrous wildfire in Jasper National Park.

Guilbeault said it wasn’t his "job" to “micromanage 4,000 Parks Canada employees,” reported Blacklock’s Reporter.

“When are you going to take responsibility?” asked Conservative MP Blaine Calkins, a former Jasper warden.

READ MORE
Guilbeault had two-year warning on Jasper wildfire prevention

“We care deeply,” testified Guilbeault.

“I mean, they care deeply. We care deeply about what happened.”

Calkins noted years’ worth of documents indicated Parks Canada knew of the fire risk posed by hundreds of thousands of hectares of dead pine following a beetle infestation. Parks Canada to date has declined to say how many hectares of “fuel load” it left standing prior to the July fire.

“I was a warden in Jasper,” said Calkins.

“That’s what I did in the 1990s when I worked for Alberta Parks and Parks Canada. I could see what was happening.”

“This is dead standing pine. It’s the driest, most easily burnable, hot-burning wood there is, and you have done nothing.”

“Did you direct your staff at Parks Canada to accelerate their fire preparedness for Jasper?”

“I don’t know how you imagine a minister’s job works,” replied Guilbeault.

“I don’t know if you will understand my answer, but it is not the minister’s job to micromanage 4,000 Parks Canada employees and tell them how to do their job. I am not a forest fire expert.”

READ MORE
Feds to withhold Jasper forest management details until a year after devastating fire

“That lies with you, minister. You are responsible for that. When are you going to take responsibility for the billion dollars of damage that happened in Jasper?”

“Everybody knew this was coming. Everybody knew it and you were told, and yet here we are, a billion dollars’ worth of assets burned down. Our beautiful Jasper National Park where I used to work is laying in ruins.”

Guilbeault said he remains convinced climate change, not poor forest management, was responsible for the Jasper fire.

“We are facing climate impacts like we have never dealt with before: floods, tropical storms and yes, fires,” he said.

Conservative MP Gerald Soroka, whose riding includes Jasper, said townspeople wanted answers.

“A third of the town is gone,” he said.

“There’s a billion dollars in devastation. Two thousand people are now homeless.”

“You knew there was a lot of fuel with a high potential for fire; when did you know this?”

“I understand more needs to be done,” replied Guilbeault.

“I am the first to acknowledge that.”

READ MORE
Internal emails confirm Jasper wildfire management was ‘political’

https://www.westernstandard.news/news/mps-press-not-my-job-guilbeault-to-take-responsibility-for-jasper-wildfire-disaster/58169

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9 hours ago

Here Here!!

OPEN LETTER: To the Prime Minister of the "New World Order"
​TO: The Right Honourable Mark Carney, Prime Minister of Canada
FROM: Jennifer Elizabeth Telfer
​I. The Banker in the PMO
​You have famously stated on camera, "I'm a banker, not a career politician." That much is evident. Your leadership has treated Canada not as a sovereign nation of citizens, but as a balance sheet to be "optimized" for global investors. You are a technician for a vision that seeks to dismantle national independence in favor of the "variable geometry" of global power you promoted at Davos 2026.
​II. The Death of the Trades & The "Build Canada" Scam
​As someone who has worked in the trades for over 15 years, I see the "holes" in your Build Communities Strong Fund. You talk about "supercharging" homebuilding, but your policies are crushing the people who actually do the work:
​The Productivity Trap: You demand 500,000 homes a year while your "hidden" fuel taxes and inflation make it impossible for ...

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Someone finally put the truth in print in a Red Deer obituary. She was 71.
" Six years ago. Val’s health began to be compromised. She battled every day to reverse the vaccine injury after long battle in excruciating pain."

7 hours ago
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