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LETTER: Bigger priorities face Town, residents

Editor: I left the Nov. 1 Canmore council meeting more disappointed with my adopted home than I have ever been. I have lived in Canmore for about 10 years now. I have been involved in select, narrow aspects of the Bow Valley community in that decade,

Editor:

I left the Nov. 1 Canmore council meeting more disappointed with my adopted home than I have ever been. I have lived in Canmore for about 10 years now. I have been involved in select, narrow aspects of the Bow Valley community in that decade, but only recently have I become involved in the broader community of Canmore. I own a home downtown, I have two kids in public schools here, my wife owns two businesses that employ about a dozen locals. I feel deeply invested in the success of Downtown Canmore, which in turn depends on the success of the cohesion of the whole community.

Many know me personally as a skeptical, borderline-cynical critic of most levels of most governments – an outlook informed by the big cities and small towns in many different provinces, states, and European Union members I have called home over my life. The exception to this, I’m finding, is local governments. In a town as small as Canmore, these are composed of real people whom we all know and interact with regularly on many different levels – at dinners out, on bikes, with our kids at school or the park, taking the compost, now shovelling snow. Democracy is administered by humans just like the rest of us. This seems easy to forget when we’re riling each other up online. Don’t get me wrong: government should be held to account. But we all know these people, and they’re remarkably reasonable individuals who are each trying very hard to do the right thing for a whole whack of different groups.

My job – under which auspices I do not write this letter – has me attending council meetings. Despite the obligation, I have found I enjoy watching the sausage get made: every aspect of every decision made by administration and council directly affects every member of this community. At first, Tuesday’s council meeting was the best attended I’ve ever seen – and none of it by folks I had seen at council before. Turns out they were all there merely to express their collective ire over a bit of multi-use pavement.

Later, administration addressed the distribution of paid parking funds – a chunk of change, even if you own a riverfront second or third home – and the Homelessness Society requested use of the Scouts’ Hall as temporary winter accommodation for Canmore’s unhoused. These topics affect many people who are directly involved in the function and vibrancy of this community, or who live at the margins and mercy of it. But by the time they were addressed, gallery attendance was back to its usual half-dozen.

Canmore is changing. In many ways, it generally seems to want to change for the better. But that means striking a balance between the wants and needs of many different, disparate stakeholders. Residents of one of Canmore’s more exclusive neighbourhoods should embrace this change by finding a real person to help. It’s easy to forget in the splendid isolation provided by its suburbs: Canmore still has real people who still need real help. 

As Mayor Sean Krausert reminded Tuesday’s rabble, the world is run by those who show up – and show up on time. Democracy doesn’t necessarily mean hosting a public hearing regarding the maintenance of a multi-modal path network. But do you want to see change in your community different from what you feel like you’re seeing? For starters, don’t show up late broadcasting your entitlement.

Stefan Bullock,

Canmore

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