Madam Speaker, I will continue with the quote from Jasper's mayor:
The present atmosphere of finger pointing, blaming and misinformation is beyond merely an annoying distraction, it delays healing,” Richard Ireland said on Thursday, October 10. “It introduces fresh wounds at a time when we need recovery and unity.
Facts matter. What Arctic Fire Safety Services have said about their involvement in the Jasper Wildfire Complex is not accurate.
I would add as an addendum, that was the member for Dauphin—Swan River—Neepawa's witness at that committee meeting. The article continues:
Unified Command should not have to explain why they were not prepared to upend their established processes of deploying resources safely and effectively because some cowboys with big trucks wanted to act on “instinct.”
Extreme atmospheric conditions and instability, combined with unprecedented dry fuel conditions, meant that Jasper wildfires were not in a fair fight on July 22.
But the people authorized to be involved in the battle gave it everything they had.
Jasper has taken some big punches, but if we are going to get up from the mat, we first need to know that we are in each other's corner.
The final line in this article is:
But if we can put politics aside and filter out good information from bad, Jasper—the town and the park—has all the right ingredients to make its rebuild unprecedented, too.
I wish the Conservatives would get on board.