This week, the Outlook really has to offer kudos to the majority of Canmore mayoral and council hopefuls for digging in and attending four all candidates’ forums in four days.
We assume candidates who hope to win a council seat were at least somewhat prepared to face the public and make their beliefs known; but four forums in four days is rather going above and beyond.
In all likelihood, by the time the hopefuls are finished with the BOWDA forum today (Oct. 10), some who threw their hat in the municipal election ring may be having a re-think on campaigning.
For those who may not have noticed, mayor and council hopefuls appeared at a CAUSE Canada social issues forum Monday (Oct. 7), a Canmore Business and Tourism forum on Tuesday and an environmental forum hosted by BOWCord, Wednesday.
Those who are elected to seats may well be glad that this election is the first to feature a four-year term. In future, special interest groups may want to give some thought to combining forums to ease a bit of the load. We realize each forum has a specific focus, but there are likely opportunities for combination.
We know council hopefuls are willing to roll up their sleeves and work hard at campaigning, but most are also citizens who are holding down jobs and the pace they are on with forums and preparation for forums must be taxing.
When you combine forum attendance with door knocking and other forms of campaigning, this year’s crop of election hopefuls will certainly have earned any seats won.
Coming up, Banffites can take in a forum sponsored by Banff Lake Louise Hotel Motel Association at Banff Park Lodge, Tuesday (Oct. 15) from 7-9 p.m. On the same night in the MD of Bighorn, a forum will be held from 7-9 p.m. at Exshaw School.
We hope as many valley residents as possible are taking in the forums in their communities to inform themselves both on the issues, and on the candidates they may vote for – along with reading Outlook election coverage, of course, and reading brochure materials.
Yard cleanups in order
Now that a mule deer buck in Banff has died as a result of being tangled up in stray cord (page 18) and a bull elk is now walking around with its antlers festooned in some type of mesh net, we’ll remind valley citizens again to keep this type of material under control in yards.
Christmas is approaching, but let’s remember to keep festive lights under control.
Speaking of under control, we’ll also remind again that bears are pigging out in preparation for denning for the winter.
Bears being bears, there’s almost nothing they won’t eat, so it’s up to valley residents to manage attractants in their yards. A bear in Bow Valley Provincial Park (page 17) has caused some concerns in searching for food and a bear was attracted to an Exhaw fruit tree. It was later killed by a train, an incident unrelated to the fruit tree, but it illustrates that bears are looking for easy eats.
Short weeks ago, a food conditioned black bear in Kananaskis Country was killed when it kept showing up in the Mt. Kidd campground; which illustrates that more often than not, a fed bear is a dead bear.
Let’s not feed them.
