It seems to be getting to the point where housing issues in the Bow Valley, particularly in Banff, must become irrevocably linked with the promotion of tourism.
In our pages this week alone, we have a proposal for a train link with Calgary to haul more tourists to the Bow Valley, Banff as a municipality moving toward being a housing provider and developer and a new housing strategy to help politicians trying to find a solution for the tourist town’s housing problem.
Now, admittedly, a train link as proposed could be seen as a way to continue flooding Banff with tourists while reducing the number of vehicles clogging its roadways and parking lots. But, as with Parks Canada’s goal of increasing tourism in our national parks by two per cent annually (and Banff is one of few parks nation-wide where this is likely) and continued support by tourism and business groups for more and larger special events to bring in more tourists, we wonder – will it ever be enough?
As it is, Banff residents and, increasingly, Canmore residents, are growing weary of sharing their towns with such a proliferation of tourists that weekends are a good time to be away. In Banff, as triathlons, road races and massive bike events, etc. fill the town to overflowing with vehicles and tourists, plain ol’ citizens are finding their way of life being infringed upon. In Canmore, nearly weekly summer race events at the Nordic Centre now have locals grumbling about a lack of weekend access.
And then there is the issue of housing, which overarches all others. Already, Bow Valley businesses, including tourism-based ones, are stretched to find and retain employees due to the high cost and low availability of housing. What good are special events and tourist-attracting features if there are no employees to staff coffeeshops, accommodation facilities, retail stores, galleries, restaurants ..?
If more and more affordable housing is not created (as in rental units for seasonal workers and reasonable cost homes for more permanent types), the lack of housing and a peak in tourism numbers may mesh/clash in the most unmanageable way in the future.
Hats off to Cold Lake citizens
On the heels of the Oct. 22 shooting and subsequent death of Cpl. Nathan Cirillo as he stood guard at the National War Memorial in Ottawa, which followed the vehicular homicide death of Warrant Officer Patrice Vincent on Oct. 20 in Quebec, we were hoping the shocking incidents would not spark retaliation against Canadian Muslim communities.
After all, the actions of Michael Zehaf-Bibeau and Martin Couture-Rouleau, respectively, who were responsible for the soldiers’ deaths, were not those of true Muslims. Rather, the two men – if they were truly “radicalized” as some kind of Islamic extremists as reports would indicate – were clearly on the far fringes of Muslim society, if they were indeed part of it at all.
After the deaths of the soldiers, federal leaders claimed Canada would not falter, or be bullied due to terrorist activities and would continue to be steadfast in the nation’s support for anti-terrorism programs..
“We will prevail” was the official federal government stance, but it took many of the good people of Cold Lake to show that Canadians would truly not hold all Muslims responsible for the actions of extremists.
Yes, a mosque in Cold Lake was vandalized and spray painted with “Go home” messages a couple of days later, along with having its windows smashed, but citizens and the business community immediately rallied and joined in to replace windows and scrub offending graffiti off the mosque’s walls while singing O Canada.
Now that’s the stuff of Canadian communities.
