Opinion

Welcome to 2014. The Rocky Mountain Outlook wishes everyone a safe, healthy and prosperous new year.

Being that this Outlook is on the stands on Christmas Eve, an unusual day due to the holidays and our press deadlines, we thought it a good opportunity to offer up a wish list, like so many people do at this time of year, to the big guy.

Editor: Fish and Wildlife had to shoot “several” cougars at Silvertip. Again, dogs being attacked and/or killed by cougars while running around off leash, the same old story.

As Christmas nears in the Bow Valley, we’d like to encourge everyone to chip in to make the season a festive one for everyone.

What is it going to take for certain dog owners to learn the critical lesson to keep your pets on leash when you are recreating in the Bow Valley? Yet again we have another example, and a fairly gruesome one, of the effects off-leash dogs have on ani

On the face of it, it seems pretty clear – Bow Valley communities are tourism hotspots. The idea that they be granted tourism destination status should be a no brainer.

As expected, the dollars are really piling up for mitigation efforts related to the June flood in the Bow Valley. Parks Canada is funneling $19.

First off, we’d like to point out that newsroom experience has generally shown that when a plan is put in place that tries to keep everyone happy by embracing the wants and needs of everyone – it rarely works out.

While Canada’s role in the Afghanistan war continues to wind down, with troops expected to be out of the country entirely by March of 2014, the Canadian Armed Forces will be less in the news.

Finally, some positive movement in reducing the number of bears killed on the Canadian Pacific Railway tracks that run through Banff National Park.