Jasper National Park Centennial

When I was in Jasper this past weekend I learned that the National Park was 100 years old this year. It is still a jewel in the Rockies. In comparison to Banff which is the West Edmonton Mall of National Parks, this is a quiet, quaint, rustic little town, which you can walk through in thirty minutes at a quick gait. There were banners up in town announcing the centennial, but little else to note the event. No special T-Shirts, mugs, or other tourist bric a brak one usually finds. Very underplayed, unfortunately.

I have always liked Jasper since camping there in my younger years. Not much has changed in Jasper , unlike the commercialized corporate 'tourist' town of Banff. And even their centennial was muted and not given much publicity. A shame really, because Jasper in many ways reminds me of what Whyte Avenue used to be, before the boom in bars and trendy yuppification.

The tourists are from all over, Korea, Japan, though not as many as in Banff, Russia, Austria, Germany, Australia, etc. etc. Staff this year in the motels seemed to be a mix of Canadians and Australians, with fewer Quebecois this season. I don't often go in the summer, I prefer the early part of December when the rates are cheap and Ski season has not yet kicked in. Even at Xmas we got a great rate for two of us and two dogs. Three days for three hundred bucks.

Worrying though was the lack of snow. The Eastern face of the Pallisades was bare. And the Western face was a brown snow, spattered across gray rock face.
The rivers were barely frozen in spots, and the snow was a dirty brown across the fields and road ways.

Elk and caribou along with big horn were lowling about grazing the still plentiful standing dead grasses.

The signs warning of fire dangers from last summer were not changed, portending perhaps another bad fire season as climate change impacts even the Rockies.

History of Jasper

The first recorded visit to the Athabasca Valley was by surveyor David Thompson in 1810. The North West Company built a supply depot on Brule Lake in 1813, a settlement which later became known as Jasper House after North West Company clerk Jasper Hawes. With the decline of the fur trade, Jasper House was abandoned in 1884. The Dominion Government established Jasper Forest Park in 1907, setting aside an area of some 13,000 sq km. By 1911 the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway had reached Fitzhugh (now Jasper) Station. The Jasper-Edmonton road opened in 1928. In 1930, Jasper Forest Park was officially established as a Jasper National Park. Today more than 3 million visitors pass through the park gates each year, and more than 1.8 million stop to experience this unique wilderness and World Heritage Site.

Location Jasper is located in Jasper National Park near the British Columbia/Alberta border, 863 km from Vancouver, British Columbia and 414 km from Calgary, Alberta.

SEE:

Return Of The Work Camps II

Tags
, Canada, Alberta, internment camps, relief, centennial, Jasper, Banff, national parks, tourism, Jasper, Albera

2008 Year Of Constitutional Change

Harper likes to talk out of both sides of his mouth. Especially when it comes to the Quebec Nation.

Stephen Harper apparently has been telling the Quebec media (in La Presse specifically) the following:

“Stephen Harper souhaite que la résolution qui reconnaît les Québécois comme une nation soit incluse dans la Constitution canadienne”

Translation: Stephen Harper hopes that the resolution recognizing the “Québécois” as a nation can be included in the Canadian Constitution!

Not only does he want to REFORM the Senate but now he wants to include Quebec as a Nation in the Constitution. Talk about pandering. The reality is that if he wants to reform the Constitution so do we all. Many of us want a new parliamentary system with proportional representation and the elimination of the Senate.

Which should be done as was originally proposed by Louis-Joseph Papineau back in 1867, through a Constituent Assembly of Canadians, not by Parliament or Legislatures.

This is Harpers cynical ploy to win votes in Quebec nothing less nothing more. Like his predecessor Brian Mulroney, Harper is treading a dangerous path, that will earn him the same boot in the butt as BM got. Which ironically was a boot with the name Reform Party of Canada on it.



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Harper Recycles

Stephen Harper, taking a page from Ralph Klein, is recycling old promises and announcements. Guess that's what he considers being Green.

PM kicks off final GST cut at electronics store

Mr. Harper wound up 2007 by holding a news conference at a Mississauga store on Monday to trumpet tax cuts his government has made and which take effect at midnight.

As the year turns, the GST will drop to 5 per cent, something that Harper's government announced months ago.

Mr. Harper said Canadians should not expect further tax cuts in 2008, adding that his government will be cautious on tax relief or new spending.

Even this is not as big a tax break as the corporations are getting thanks to Harpers generosity with our tax money. And what you save in GST you pay back in payroll taxes.

Starting Jan. 1, Canada's corporate tax rate will be trimmed to 19.5 per cent from the current 22.12 per cent. This rate is slated to come down each subsequent year until it is reduced to 15 per cent on Jan. 1, 2012.

As well, the tax rate on small businesses with incomes under $400,000 drops to 11 per cent from the scheduled 11.5 per cent rate.

Of course, what the government giveth, it often takes away and Ottawa has also brought in a slight increase in so-called payroll taxes.

The taxpayers federation estimates that employees will pay an additional $50.43 in 2008 on employment insurance and the Canada Pension Plan, while employers will pay $46.02 more per worker.

And it is the payroll taxes, EI specifically that creates the record Government Surpluses whether that government is Liberal or Conservative.

And note that workers still pay more than employers. Time to abolish taxes on the working class!



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Gone But Not Forgotten

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Gone is Andrew Anderson's THE CANADIAN BLOG EXCHANGE one of the best aggregators of political blogs left and right in Canada. For about a month it was being petulant about uploading stories, now it is gone off line for good. Andrew was looking for someone to take over the page for months now. Though it was announced a new site had been found the CBE is gone. Too bad. It was a good way to see political bloggers of all stripes, including the independents who belong to groups.

Here is what is left of links to CBE

The Canadian Blog Exchange on Technorati

Tailrank - Posts for 'The Canadian Blog Exchange'

And here is the Google Cache for Andrew's Bound By Gravity.

For those interested in a non partisan replacement aggregator check out;

Opinions Canada


SEE:

Canadian Blog Exchange Kaput?

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