With four election forums in four days, Canmore candidates for council and mayor presented themselves and their position on a variety of topics last week.
Last Wednesday (Oct. 9), candidates had an opportunity to address environmental issues, and in particular the future of wildlife movement on the Three Sisters lands at a forum held by the Bow Corridor Organization for Responsible Development.
The first question candidates had to tackle was what priority they would give to the protection of wildlife corridors if development was proposed adjacent to it.
“I would give it first priority,” said incumbent mayoral candidate John Borrowman.
“I think it is a very, very positive thing for Canmore that the TSMV lands have been taken out of receivership and are back in the hands of private owners and in particular private owners who have experience in the community and experience dealing with wildlife corridors,” said challenger Hans Helder.
Council candidates were also supportive of protecting the functionality of corridors on the Three Sisters lands.
“I would support wildlife corridors everywhere it can be in Canmore,” said Larry Shellian. “If they start developing in there now, where are all these animals going to go? I think Canmore should take a real long look at this.”
Rob Seeley said it is important for the municipal government to be at the table when the final corridor is being decided between the developer and the province.
He advocated for proper buffers adjacent to the corridor, which is under the jurisdiction of the municipality.
Vi Sandford said she was surprised development was allowed in Three Sisters to begin with.
“There were a lot of things Three Sisters had to satisfy in terms of concerns to let wildlife continue to move around the valley,” she said.
“Without question, the Three Sisters wildlife corridors have to be given the utmost priority whatever it ultimately winds up being defined as,” said Ed Russell. “We need, as a council and town administration, to have the ability to say no to development when appropriate.”
Joanna McCallum said the province needs to delineate the final corridor on the Three Sisters lands so Canmore can move on as a community.
“I think it has been made pretty clear in the last three years the health of wildlife corridors is certainly in my mind a priority,” she said.
James Louden called wildlife corridors sacrosanct and said adjacent uses to them are critical decisions for council.
“I would cause an awful lot of trouble for anyone who wants to mess with them,” he said, adding strict rules for buffers need to be established.
Sean Krausert argued proper procedures and policies need to be used by council when determining the future land uses adjacent to corridors.
Colleen Critchley said all elements of the policy must be satisfied, which includes other important tools that may be used to support corridor protection.
“I would also place the highest priority on protecting wildlife corridors and I would like to ensure those corridors are sufficient,” said Esmé Comfort.
Helder was asked about the fact that he came out on record against green building standards included in Canmore’s Land Use Bylaw.
“When this was brought forward as an addition to the Land Use Bylaw, I did not support it and I still do not support it,” he said. “What really works is the market, the market defines what people will buy.
“One thing we found in Canmore is without regulation many people were already buying green buildings… so regulating it was unnecessary and often too restrictive – it limits what people can do rather than creating incentives.”
Critchley said Canmore needs to be more strategic about which opportunities it pursues regarding recycling, in particular for commercial businesses. That includes looking at organic diversion, she added.
Sandford noted Canmore is making quite a few inroads in its recycling program and better management of biosolids. She said the municipality is in discussions with Banff about its facility processing Canmore’s biosolids rather than shipping them out of the valley.
