There will be no shortage of names on the ballot for voters to choose from in next month’s municipal election, with 18 residents with varying platforms throwing their hats in the ring.
Five incumbent councillors and 11 fresh faces are vying for six council seats in the Oct. 16 municipal election, while there’s a two-way mayoral race underway between two-term mayor Karen Sorensen and political hopeful Hugh Pettigrew.
There are a few burning issues as voters head to the polls, including paid parking, housing, affordability and quality of life for residents.
Lorraine Harding, who has lived in Banff since 2006, is the only new female vying for a spot at the council table, joining female incumbents Sorensen, Chip Olver and Corrie DiManno, who are running again.
“I want to make a difference and I want to be a part of the legacy of our great town,” said Harding, who until recently spent 14 years working for Billabong, 11 of them in Banff.
Harding said she is committed to establishing viable solutions for housing and parking concerns.
“I believe that with the right strategic priorities in place, we can work together to keep our town moving forward,” she said.
Born in Banff and raised in Jasper, Barry Ferguson is a well-known resident who worked for Warner Guiding for 34 years before taking a job with Guenther’s Landscaping for five years. These days, he owns and manages several rental units.
“Having worked in hospitality, construction and the environmental sectors in our town, I feel I have a deep understanding of the challenges faced by our citizens, our businesses and our council,” he said.
“I’m running for council with the vision of increased fiscal responsibility based in transparency.”
Dave Dickson has worked in the hospitality industry since 1997, working two jobs pretty much the entire time he’s lived here, including at the Banff Springs, St. James’s Gate, the Elk and Oarsman and presently at Pacini’s at the Moose.
“I am running for council because I want to represent the working class people of our town,” he said.
Dickson said too many good friends and long time residents have left the Bow Valley for a more affordable and viable way of life – and he wants to see the Town put residents first.
“I see people not much older than I was arriving in town and trying desperately to make a go of it. I have seen the mistakes of other tourist destinations where they lose the very people that make the community,” he said.
“In a town full of hospitality and tourism professionals, it is in the very fabric of our nature to put our own needs aside in the interest of benefiting our guests and visitors. There has to be one agency here in town that puts the people that care for our guests first.”
Jon Whelan, who is semi-retired and has lived in Banff National Park since 1972, said improvements to quality of life for all Banff residents, particularly long-term residents, is his number one motivation for running for a seat at the council table.
He wants to hear opinions and advice from as many Banff residents as possible on this.
“While I do definitely have some ideas regarding this topic, it is the wants, needs and desires of Banff residents that should guide council,” he said.
Whelan said residents should not be governed from the ivory tower down, noting council should consult honestly with residents, particularly on what council should know will be controversial issues, before formulating bylaws and policies.
“The dedicated bike lanes on Banff Avenue a couple of years ago is a prime example of why council, and in that case, particularly administration, must consult townspeople first on some, not all, issues,” he said.
Wade Rettie, who moved to Banff 41 years ago when he was a one-year-old and worked at various businesses in Banff, is probably best known as a coach of the Banff Alpine Racers for the past 25 years.
“I am running for town council because I want to be more involved in the continued progress of our community while providing fair and equal representation for the voters of Banff,” he said.
Allan Buckingham has lived in Banff since 2006 and is a parent and communications consultant focusing on event planning and online resource creation.
He said he believes Banff has the opportunity to demonstrate to the world how a community can live within limits and still be a prosperous, attractive community to be a part of.
“To do that though, we need to be engaging in some difficult conversations about what that will look like,” he said.
Buckingham says he’s an ideas person who likes to explore innovative ways of doing things, and has lots of experience doing so on a variety of boards and committees.
“I hope to use this experience to help Banff be a better, more sustainable place to live, work and play,” he said.
Doug Macnamara, who was recruited to Banff to lead the Banff Centre for Management in early 1994, has been a small business consulting firm owner for the past 16 years.
Macnamara’s platform includes prudent financial management and careful return on investment decision-making. He’d like to see municipal taxes kept lower.
“Tax increases should be much lower than the recent five to seven per cent per year, more in line with salary/pension increases,” he said.
Other key issues for Macnamara include protecting and sustaining the national park ecosystem, while advancing nature tourism.
He said there’s a need for affordable and attainable housing for a variety of family types and sizes.
“Innovation in flexible homes is needed, with ability for rental suites or added space as family grows,” he said.
Lawyer Chris Wong, who has lived in Banff for the past five years and serves as vice-chair on Banff’s development appeal board, said it’s time for a change.
Key to his platform is prioritizing quality of life for committed locals, increasing transparency and accountability of government, and long-term thinking and fiscal prudence.
“I’m tired of ambiguous and opaque ‘trials’ that lead nowhere with superficial – or even detrimental – changes,” said Wong. “We need to move forward in a transparent, sustainable and scientific way.”
Incumbent councillor Corrie DiManno, who spent summers in Banff with her family growing up and moved here permanently in 2010, is seeking a second term on council.
The former journalist who has worked as communications and outreach at the Banff Canmore Community Foundation for the past four years, said issues important to her include housing, transit and affordability.
“Over the past four years serving as a councillor, my love for Banff has grown and I want to continue working toward making our mountain town the best it can be,” she said.
If re-elected, DiManno said she would spend the next four years working through short-term and long-term solutions recommended in the community housing strategy.
As the number of vehicles to Banff increases, she said mass transit is an ideal way to move people through our roadways with low environmental impact.
“I believe strengthening our transit system in the Bow Valley and beyond is essential to reducing vehicle volumes during busy times,” she said.
Affordability is another big issue for DiManno.
“From housing to food security, I’m committed to making it more affordable for Banffites to live, work, and play here through supporting low cost initiatives,” she said.
Chip Olver, who is seeking a ninth term on council after being elected in a by-election in 1994, has called Banff home for more than 40 years.
She’s running on a platform of housing, affordability, transportation, transit and parking management, and economic and environmental sustainability.
“I’m running for re-election to work on these issues for our community. We need housing for our workforce, families and seniors,” she said.
Olver points to a 2017 resident satisfaction survey; one in five respondents said their housing situation was unacceptable and 61 per cent said living in Banff was unaffordable.
In addition, she said, 97 per cent said they wanted the Town to take additional steps to better manage parking.
“I will continue to support housing, other affordability initiatives and explore parking management tools,” she said. “We need to ensure our tourism base and our amazing environment are strong and sustainable.”
Incumbent Grant Canning, who’s been in Banff since 2005 and owns the Banff National Perk Coffee House since 2010, said he’s running again because municipal government has a responsibility to improve the quality of life for all residents.
“I believe there are too many residents who are struggling with the lack of housing and the overall cost of living in Banff,” he said.
“It doesn’t matter if you’ve been in Banff for one year or 30 years, you deserve to have a good quality of life and be able to find good quality housing in our community.”
Canning said he supports implementation of a free and frequent transit system throughout Banff.
“I support being pragmatic and reasonable when considering the budget,” he said.
“Council needs to consider all decisions with an open mind and look at each decision individually, carefully considering the impact it will have on our community.”
Ted Christensen, owner of Banff Home Wise Renovations, and has lived in Banff since 1988, said neighbourhood housing density, vehicle congestion and parking, and the number of visitors are big issues.
“I want to define and resolve our capacity for housing density, tourist visitation and vehicle congestion and housing,” he said.
Seniors care and housing is a key to his platform.
“I want to increase the number of facilities for Banff seniors,” he said.
Long-time resident Brian Standish, who manages Home Hardware, is seeking a third council term.
Elected in 2010, Standish said he wants to make sure the recreation master plan is front and centre, wanting to make sure other projects move forward after the skateboard park.
He said there’s a lot of unfinished business he wants to see through, noting he is in favour of paid parking as one solution to the tourist town’s parking and traffic woes.
“We’ve made great strides in housing and transportation, but there’s still things to do in both,” he said.
Council hopefuls Peter Poole, Tony Bumbaco and Rob Lillington did not meet the Outlook’s deadline for input.
