By Rachel Fraser
Who will be left standing in the spring? Some Valemount businesses will be able to leverage more flexible income streams to ride out the lean year, but others are floundering in the wake of back-to-back calamities. While the Robson Valley was spared the scope of loss and damage our neighbours in Jasper sustained in the July wildfire, the impacts of that disaster may still be individually devastating for some businesses.
Due to low snowpack this past winter, the Robson Valley saw a significantly lower volume of sledders visiting, the main source of winter tourism dollars. Many Valemount businesses were counting on the summer’s influx of tourists to replenish coffers, but instead, our tourism market was choked out nearly completely in mid-summer, due to Jasper wildfire related closures of Highways 16 and 93. Highway 16 east of Mount Robson was closed to the public for 18 days, and not opened fully for another 10, and the 93 was closed for 32 days.
Cindy Wong, owner of Lucky House restaurant, said she will need government subsidies to make it through the winter, since there just isn’t enough clientele during the winter months to make up for the lost revenue, and that they are already very close to losing the business.
“I’m very afraid of not having it,” she said.
Sherrie Houghton, owner of Emerald Earth Organic Spa and Natural Skincare Products, said she is also not sure her business will survive another slow winter.
“I’m worried about the future of my business. I’ve been pretty slow ever since the pipeline left,” she said
Houghton tried to file a claim for business interruption insurance because her skincare business was so drastically affected. She had her products in four Jasper businesses, all of which burnt down. She also sold her products weekly at the Jasper farmers market, which was no longer an option for the summer. She estimates that she lost about $40,000 in revenue this summer that her insurance company informed her was uninsurable since her business didn’t burn down.
“We’ve already lost a few other businesses this year,” Houghton said. “If any more close, especially ones like [the brewery], I don’t know, people are maybe not going to want to stop here. The “après” is still a big part of the mountain adventures, like having a nice place to go and eat and drink afterwards.”
Valemount’s Three Ranges Brewing Co now has a community effort underway to save it, once it became clear that it too was in trouble.
The Village of Valemount with Tourism Valemount circulated a survey to local businesses in mid-August, while both highways were still closed, to gauge the impact of the highway closures. The results informed a report they’ve been using to advocate for support from the Provincial government and related agencies, though those efforts have been interrupted and significantly delayed by the election period.
Most survey respondents (77%) indicated they make more than 50% of their revenue in the summer, and more than half said they’d lost at least 60% of their summer revenue. When asked whether current financial supports and resources they had would be sufficient to help their business remain viable until a return to normal operations, 70% of respondents said no.
According to Valemount Chief Administrative Officer Anne Yanciw, this report has been shared widely with provincial officials, leading the Ministry of Emergency Management and Climate Resiliency (EMCR) to strike a table to assist Valemount, including representatives from the Ministry of Tourism, Jobs, Economic Development and Innovation (JEDI), Community Futures, Red Cross, Northern Development Initiative Trust (NDIT), and the Village.
Unfortunately for the Robson Valley, the provincial government has been in a caretaker period since September 21st due to the election, which limits communications and new initiatives until the new government is sworn in, which isn’t expected to be until the end of November or beginning of December, according to the BC Government website.
Valemount Mayor Owen Torgerson said in an email that current provincial supports don’t address the uniqueness of the Robson Valley’s predicament. There aren’t funding mechanisms addressing this type of economic impact from an out-of-province disaster.
“Because there are no check boxes for our situation, new programming or emergency funding will need to be created specifically for our situation,” Torgerson said.
The convention in September for the Union of BC Municipalities (UBCM) gave Valemount of Village Council an opportunity to get the issue in front of the deputy Minister of JEDI before the writ dropped. Torgerson also said the Village has been engaging with Alberta MLAs “to encourage a continuance of out-of-the-box thinking” and will include our new MLA once government forms.
Dannielle Alan, Area H Director for the Regional District of Fraser-Fort George, also said she spoke to various ministers at the UBCM conference, and said the Economic Development Officer for the district is actively looking into financial support.
“The timing of this though is challenging for any sort of provincial support, with the provincial election happening, nobody was willing to make a decision or make any promises,” said Alan.
“The Village staff and Council will be developing the specifics of a funding ask so that when the new government is out of the interregnum period, we can work with them on securing supports that will avert this crisis,” said Yanciw.
In the meantime, Yanciw said in her email that the Red Cross has a grant of $1000 for businesses impacted by the Jasper fires, including agriculture businesses, though the application page of the website states the program is not intended to fund loss of revenue or income. Businesses must also be under the net income threshold of $350,000.
Emily Colombo from JEDI is available for consultation with businesses and will be in Valemount October 28-30 for in person one-on-one meetings.
Yanciw said that Community Futures and NDIT are prepared to assist in the delivery of new funding programs, and Community Futures has a Regional Business Liaison in Valemount.
Businesses are encouraged to check regularly at https://valemount.ca/business/economic-development/ for any information related to this matter, including grants and any forthcoming supports.
The Goat spoke to some McBride businesses as well, but the impact does not seem to have been felt as hard. Darrell Roth at Uncle Mark’s Specialty Market attributes this to a lower dependence on tourism, and their visitors accessing them from a different direction.
“We have a local clientele… [but] I don’t think that there was a real lack of traffic going through because people were going up from Kamloops and Vancouver way, and coming in from the Prince George direction and North.”
When asked whether The Village of McBride had sent a letter to the Ministry of Tourism, as recommended by Torgerson, Mayor Gene Runtz said that since the highway opened back up, the McBride council hasn’t been working towards economic relief for local businesses.
“There wasn’t the need to do anything because of the reopening. I mean, there’s been an impact for sure, but the idea was the impact was not going to stay as long term as what we had anticipated.”
A request for comment to McBride’s Economic Development Officer, Karen Dube, was declined due to the deadline.
The Goat reached out to Rosalyn Bird, MLA-elect for Prince George-Valemount about what plans she has to advocate for relief for impacted businesses, but didn’t hear back by publication time.
Houghton noted that the Village of Valemount reached out requesting she complete a survey, and that she was directed to Community Futures, who would be able to help. What Community Futures offered was a $5,000 grant to take a course, which Houghton didn’t think was particularly relevant.
“I don’t want to learn how to do online marketing because I’m wearing enough hats running my business already, but I would prefer to use a $5,000 grant to pay somebody who specializes in online marketing… you’d get way more return by just paying someone to do it. And you’re going to get results quicker than me going and doing a course and then learning to write the ads.”
She was unaware that the Red Cross was offering grants to affected businesses in Valemount, or that JEDI would be in town meeting with businesses.
Wong was likewise unaware of the financial supports the Village has listed on their website but will now be applying for the Red Cross grant.
Vale Coffee told The Goat they had applied for the Red Cross grant, but have not heard back. They are also a bit nervous going into the winter as they rely on tourism, though they don’t anticipate it being fatal due to community support and wholesale clients.
“All us small businesses need a snowy winter so we are just trying to be optimistic and hope Ullr (god of snow) sends the goods!”
They were able to defer their loan payments during this tough time but said this means paying more interest over the course of their loan. They point out that because traditional loans are not available to start-ups like theirs during the first few years, loans through organizations like Community Futures carry higher interest.
“If there were any way for communities to offer offsets to this, that could make a meaningful impact on a business’s ability to thrive.”
While Sean Prockter, owner of Jasper Hikes & Tours and Robson Backcountry Adventures has had to sideline the Jasper arm of his business for the time-being, he’s optimistic about his McBride-based operations.
“All the models show El Nino has subsided and there is a possibility of La Nina coming in. So even if we don’t get a La Nina year, we’re not going to have another El Nino dry winter like we had last year. I haven’t seen any model that indicates that. So, I think you can only go up from last year.”
