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Jasper's Town Plan will be one of the most consequential documents the municipality has ever produced. It will serve simultaneously as a community plan under the Canada National Parks Act and a municipal development plan under Alberta's Municipal Government Act — governing land use, development and the direction of the community for years to come. Getting the foundations right matters enormously.
Council began the town plan development process in 2025. JPCC is engaged and watching closely.
Tourism is not one part of Jasper's economy — it is Jasper's economy. Every land use decision, every development choice and every policy direction the town plan produces will shape whether Jasper remains a community that welcomes and supports visitors or one that treats them as an afterthought. We support a Town Plan that explicitly reflects the primacy of the visitor economy in Jasper's land use, development and community direction. The 2011 Community Sustainability Plan recognized Economy as one of five foundational principles — that grounding should not disappear from Jasper's next generation planning document.
Letter to Council on Town Plan Values — June 2025 — At its June 10, 2025 Committee of the Whole meeting, Council received six community-developed values intended to guide the new Town Plan: belonging, connection, nature, responsible, thriving, and inclusive. The visitor economy went unmentioned across all six values and their accompanying descriptions — despite the fact that council's own strategic priorities explicitly recognize its fundamental importance to the community.
Mayor Ireland raised this concern directly at the June 10 meeting, noting that none of the values reflected Jasper's connection to the visitor economy and that council's own strategic priorities recognized its fundamental importance. Other councillors expressed agreement and pointed to Tourism Jasper's Destination Stewardship Plan as a relevant framework that had not been drawn upon.
JPCC wrote to council ahead of the June 17 Regular Council Meeting at which the values were to be formally adopted. Our letter noted that words that might at least have connoted economic vitality — including Stability and Prosperity — had been edited out of earlier drafts and that the 2011 Community Sustainability Plan listed Economy as one of five foundational principles. We urged council, as the elected representatives of the community, to correct this oversight before directing administration to proceed.
Tourism Jasper wrote separately, offering a constructive path forward: formally incorporating the Destination Stewardship Plan — developed collaboratively with the municipality, Parks Canada, Tourism Jasper and residents — as a foundational document for the planning process. The DSP already integrates business continuity, economic diversification and the visitor economy in a systems-level framework.
Council adopted both motions at the June 17 meeting without amendment. The six values stand as adopted. The visitor economy received no mention.
The values are set, but the work ahead is what will determine whether they are interpreted in ways that support or overlook the visitor economy. Administration is expected to return to council with policy directions in 2026 — the stage at which the values are translated into actual planning choices. JPCC will engage at that stage and will press for policy directions that reflect the economic reality of this community.
This is a long-term file. The town plan will shape Jasper for a generation. We will be at the table throughout its development.
If you have views on how Jasper's Town Plan should address the visitor economy, land use, or development, we want to hear from you. Contact us at [email protected] or call 780-852-4621.