When the opportunity arose to take part in the new SHINE 2012… Thanks for Giving initiative, we couldn’t resist.
After all, as a newspaper that has always embraced the importance of community and community builders, the idea of supporting SHINE as a sponsor was a no-brainer.
For Banff, the event will somewhat mirror Canmore’s Mayor’s Awards for Volunteer Excellence (see page 13), but with a broader reach.
In these pages, as readers know, the Outlook does its best to report on community events which highlight hard work, volunteerism, looking within, looking without, local enthusiasm and many acts of enrichment.
Banff and the Bow Valley are blessed with many citizens who go above and beyond to enrich their community, which enriches them for all of us, but not all can be recognized.
Larger events like foodbank drives, all manner of fundraisers, seasonal efforts and youth-related initiatives regularly grace these pages. But there is no way that a community newspaper can know of, or hear about, every community enrichment effort out there; large or small.
But throughout Banff, there are those who are doing that little bit extra that we don’t hear about – a mentor who plays a role in a student’s future, a youth leader who may assist a youngster in their charge in staying on the right path through life, a volunteer you can always count on to be the heart and soul of any endeavour, or one of many people involved in sports who make a difference.
The philosophy of SHINE (see page 14) – Share, Help, Inspire, Nurture, Enrich – is one that can be all-encompassing and, depending on your vision of community enrichment, very personal to any individual.
Being that the deadline for SHINE nominations is June 8, though, we encourage Banffites to give some thought to those who have made a difference – sooner, rather than later – and put their name forward.
Congratulations to new MLA
The Rocky Mountain Outlook congratulates newly-elected Banff-Cochrane MLA Ron Casey on his election victory, Monday (April 23).
On the upside, as the MLA who replaces the outgoing Janis Tarchuk, we’re sure Casey will do his best in representing his constituents’ interests in Edmonton.
On the downside, of course, Canmorites now have yet another election to ponder, as Casey’s elevation to MLA means a byelection to fill his vacant mayor’s chair, and two councillor’s seats, as John Borrowman and Ed Russell have already announced they will seek the position.
There is yet another round of ballot-marking to be done.
As far as the provincial election goes, we would like to point out how much in error pollsters were in predicting the outcome.
Being that pollsters are paid good money (we assume) to produce the numbers that so many large media outlets use as election coverage, we hope those who hired them keep in mind the fact that the poll results did not mirror the eventual election results.
So what happened with poll numbers? Are pollsters incapable of reaching those with cellphones, rather than landlines? Were voters swayed/frightened/confused by polls, resulting in altered voting when it came time to stepping into the booth?
In the end, poll numbers being so out of whack with the reality of the election result really calls into question their value.
It’s well known that some politicians govern based on poll results; we’d like to think voters aren’t swayed in the same way.
