Editor:
I read the Vox Populi section of the Outlook with interest. It’s a quick pulse check on our community and hopefully demonstrates there is more to our social consciousness than real estate advertising.
However, while reading Malcolm Young's letter “Canmore vacancy tax has many concerning issues” concerning the vacancy tax I admittedly tuned out at point four. Sorry, it wasn’t the discussion, it was the “extreme left wing tax grab and spend government” comment. If I follow his style of political siloing then “extreme conservative cronyism” would be an equally validated observation, fitting to this town and province.
We have to do better than that. Our neighbours to the south are the gold standard of insanity by political divide and it’s literally tearing them apart.
I would be naive to think that my views are relevant to most members of our community. But when I came to live in the Bow Valley in 1986, it became clear this was a special place. Political stripes or flashes of wealth were less important than the things you did or the reverence you found in the mountain landscape.
Party association can’t hold a candle to the understated eloquence of the likes of Tim Auger or Kiwi Gallagher. It is dull in comparison to the audacity of a Barry Blanchard route and falls incredibly short in inspirational value when measured against Brit and Cole Richardson’s abilities to stomp it on their skis.
I’m still proud of the fact my girls passed their belay test under the watchful eye of Sharon Wood and got pointers at the Canmore Nordic Centre from Olympic gold medallist Chandra Crawford. How lucky are we to have seen Karsten Heuer, Leanne Allison, Zev Heuer and Willow paddle off to Hudson Bay or be exhilarated by the cinematographers, authors and artists at the Banff Mountain Film Festival? Party associations pale deeply in the shadows of these local heroes and events. And that’s a big part of the magic that makes this valley great.
Political branding completely dissolves when you are route finding a safe up track in a tricky snowpack, or racing a storm on an exposed alpine ridge. They melt under the lens of art and literature unique to this valley. We know we can accomplish great things without political rhetoric. We prove that every time we move through this mountain landscape. Let’s keep that notion to heart as we navigate the complexities of trying to build a better Bow Valley community.
Mike Henderson,
Canmore
