Editor:
Life has been a challenge since the pandemic struck.
There’s no place to go with international travel prohibited, local communities sending the message to stay away, restaurants closed and the economy decimated.
Starting June 1, I will lose one more thing that I love – walking my dogs at the Quarry Lake off-leash dog park and taking my kids to the Quarry Lake beach.
As Harvie Heights residents, we don’t qualify for a local’s pass. Even though we live five minutes away. If I want to take my kids to the lake, or bring my dogs for a swim, I’ll have to pay $20 to park my car.
For the past 10-plus years, my family and I have visited the dog park almost daily. It is the only location in the area where dogs can legally swim off leash.
I have a senior dog, he has displaced hips. He can’t walk well, but he loves to swim. It’s great low impact exercise for him.
Now it will cost me $20 a day for the same opportunity. That’s $400 a month – at a time when our income has never been so precarious, or the need for a safe place to relax more necessary.
I think that is ridiculous. To say that I’m disappointed with the people who thought that that was in any way reasonable is an understatement.
You’ve taken away a place we love, a huge piece of our family life here by excluding us from the Canmore community.
It’s shameful.
I implore the Town of Canmore, please include the neighbouring Bow Valley communities in the pass system, not at some undefined time in the future, but now.
Shirleen Burnett,
Harvie Heights
