If there was any doubt that dealing with the June 2013 flood event will be a very long, involved process, events this week confirm that.
From the Town of Canmore offering some tax relief to those whose homes cannot yet be occupied, to a fish salvage operation on Banff’s Cascade River, to homeowners locally still waiting to hear where assistance or aid is coming from, to ongoing work in drainages and roadways to reports that flood events in 2005 were ignored – recovering from the flood is going to take a long time and our friends and neighbours will have their patience sorely tested.
One of the great challenges will be that, as weeks and months drag on, focus must be kept on the issue of flood recovery.
As things move toward some kind of conclusion, including much litigation, no doubt, the issues can’t be forgotten.
Trouble is, so much of what happened in the 2013 flood is eerily reminiscent of the 2005 flooding – and not much was done in between the two disasters.
Canmore council has made a good move in offering some tax relief, of municipal taxes only, and was right in sticking to a policy of keeping provincial education taxes separate. At least homeowners on Cougar Creek will see some relatively immediate relief. That still leaves many residents of Exshaw and Lac Des Arcs wondering what’s next.
Somewhat disturbing is that after 2005 flooding, it seems little was done to address obvious problems. For example, in the MD of Bighorn, applications for provincial funding in 2005 to deal with erosion along the Bow River in Lac Des Arcs went nowhere — and now a home is hanging over the bank of the river as its owners wait for an encouraging word.
With Premier Alison Redford in Ottawa for a premier’s conference, word was out that Alberta ignored warning signs after 2005 flooding and details in a 2006 report on mitigation were released and largely forgotten.
Then there is the 2008 hydrology report on Cougar Creek which proposed $6.5 million in mitigation, but that the Province and CP Rail didn’t agree to fund.
And now Canmore has offered up $600,000 for a new report on mountain creek flood mitigation – let’s hope the money ends up being spent on a report full of recommendations that are actually followed.
The problem with studies is that often, it seems, they are paid for, but then not acted upon, with no resulting bang for a municipality’s buck.
Pancakes with that?
On a much brighter side, community superguy Ron Marra’s vision of locals providing musical entertainment while raising funds for community initiatives during Canmore Folk Music Festival’s pancake breakfast lives on.
Marra, long a pillar of the community, just as Marra’s Grocery was a central hub for Canmore, set aside his Ronnie and the Bag Boys drumsticks in 2010, with friends carrying on the tradition over the past two years.
For the 36th annual event this weekend (Aug. 5), festival organizers and former Bag Boy Jon Frolick have picked up Marra’s torch and vow to continue. These days, the Sobeys and Rotary Club-sponsored breakfast event will continue — and will highlight youth musicians, be used to collect food bank items and support the Canmore Collegiate High School Music Scholarship Fund.
When community events like the pancake breakfast take on a life of their own, it makes everyone happy to be a Bow Valley resident.
