If you go anywhere in the world and say Banff, Canada – people are usually quite impressed.
This is what longtime Banff resident Paul Lake found out firsthand, while travelling to other parts of Canada and internationally showcasing the skills he picked up in the world-renowned tourist destination.
The native Liverpudlian has worked in Australia, Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver, due, in part, thanks to knowing someone in Banff.
“If you go to someone and say ‘I’m from Banff’ and they know the tourist industry, then you’re a step ahead of anyone behind you, it’s an internationally known good name,” Lake said.
“Now Banff is available to pretty much any professional skill or trade that you can make a living at in Banff, which wasn’t the case 40 years ago. You were maybe hospital staff, a bus driver or food and beverage at a hotel – now you have all manner of computer work, graphic design, The Banff Centre trades and professions up there.”
The town and area has given much to Lake in work, experiences and friendship, but the 69-year-old is getting ready to start a new chapter and experiences in another province to curtail looming expenses on the horizon thanks in part to a perfect financial storm forecast consisting of inflation, a sinking dollar and expensive housing.
Lake’s journey started as a young man back in England, shrouded in a constable’s uniform, but the job was not meant to be.
“You have to give your heart and soul and I didn’t believe in it, and I didn’t give my heart and soul to the police force,” Lake said. “I joined because I had worn a uniform all my life, from a kid on at school, and it was automatic for me to take a job where I would wear a uniform. My old man was in the Royal Air Force and I had worn a tie my entire life, so I thought I’d be a policeman.”
It was the thrill of the great unknown, the thrill of going overseas which really interested Lake. He had heard about Canada as a schoolboy, being a keen geography student. Australia, Canada and South Africa were all destinations the young man thought about exploring.
“Three of us applied to go to Australia when we were 18 and police cadets, but all of our parents said ‘no.’ My father looked at me and said, ‘What are you going to do if in the middle of Australia you get sick?’ His father died in 1968 and within six months he had asked friends who had visited about Canada.
“I said OK I’ll meet you in Toronto and in six weeks I went and resigned from the police force and that was the end of it. I sold a car and that was the money that I brought to Canada, about $95,” said Lake.
“Let the adventure begin, never looked back. Hired on in Winnipeg at a mine in Thompson, Manitoba and did that for eight months, Edmonton for six and had a good time which was more of a Welcome to Canada,” said Lake on first venturing into Alberta.
He went to Vancouver and everyone was on strike in the summer of 1970. “Thousands of kids there, tear gas battles on the beach – hippies everywhere. Back to Toronto and I had two different jobs in two days, and then Toronto to Banff.
“I got a job on the railways in southern Ontario and met this fellow and he and I got along pretty good. I ran into him and he quit the railways and said I’m going out to Banff to work and go to school in Calgary to be a geologist and he got me a job at the Banff Springs.”
Lake lived in staff accommodations, putting in five years in the food and beverage industry. He then became self-employed, with a stint as a photographer at the Banff Crag and Canyon and a golf shop.
“It’s a wonderful place to be, but a lot of the accommodations are entry level,” Lake said. “I know lots of food and beverage people that have their own rooms in downtown Banff, but their rent just went from $1,500 to $1,700, just jacked up and nobody’s wages have gone up to look after that. And with the drought in the U.S. and inflation and the Canadian dollar tanking once again, food is expensive.
“I received my notice here and I looked in the paper for two weeks, didn’t sleep hardly, but the postings for housing would be $3,500 and I thought I would have to do it with five roommates and I would have to live in the basement ... but I’m not going to look for roommates to pay $600 – $700 rent so I can live in a basement.”
Lake is now moving to Maple Creek, Sask., where he has owned a house for the past eight years, bought at the height of the Saskatchewan economic boom.
“Then the s--- hit the fan with the worldwide recession,” he said. “In 2010, the house was flooded ... and I had cancer 18 months ago, and my digestive tract has somewhat changed.”
When asked if he’s upset or dissatisfied with the cards life has dealt, he promptly returns to thoughts of the town and community he has called home for decades.
“There’s two reasons I’m disgruntled; one is I was recently accepted to the Banff Municipal Planning Committee and I was able to only go to one meeting and I have to pack it in, and the other would be that nobody ever told me that 40 years ago real estate was the way to go,” said Lake.
“I think to be self-employed and to buy real estate should be everybody’s personal goals in life, because you’re always going to need a place to live and you’re always going to need something to do.”
Lake will throw a going away party on Jan. 22; those wishing to attend can call 403-762-5838.
