Editor:
I write you today to voice a shared concern about proposed project for Three Sisters Mountain Village, and concerns that the mayor and council is disconnecting with the very people that put them in office in the first place. A concern that the fate met with similar projects is the fate of the one proposed by the Town of Canmore.
Over the last three years, what I have noticed personally, is a distaste in current council and their inability to connect with the residents.
Taking their concerns seriously and acting on them could be the cause, what is even more worrisome is that no one seems to listen to the residents that have lived in Canmore long before the coal industry left, the ones that warned against building on unstable grounds, and most importantly, the ones that made Canmore what it is today.
There have been similar issues with councils all over Canada, one example can include Newfoundland in 2010, when the Progressive Conservatives at the time gave inception to the Muskrat Falls Hydro dam. Eleven years later and $12.7 billion dollars later, there is still no water flowing through the water gates and the average Newfoundlander's Hydro rate increased significantly.
One more example, is one not far from Alberta, just across the border in Sechelt, B.C., where a developer bought land knowing that there would be future developments of sinkholes, developed and sold houses to unsuspecting buyers. Three years later, those very residents who were forced out of their own homes, and are still in legal battle with everyone involved in the sale and development of both land and houses.
In conclusion, there are important questions to ask right now, before the go ahead is given to rip up the ground and lay foundation.
If we were to give such a project the green light, since it's built on undermined land with the potential of sinkholes, do we want to risk potential lawsuits?
Do we want to set potential buyers up with a house they're never going to be able to sell again and risk financial disparity?
No, we don't because we're better than that, we listen to the people who have been here long before us and heed their warnings, we listen to the people who love this community and those who would give their lives for it.
Who we don't listen to are the ones who try and fool the public with promises of jobs and a stronger economy, those who sell off land used by animals who need it most and those who are unaware of how negative this will affect their legacies.
This isn't a debate and this should never be a debate. We've seen similar situations in Canada play out like this and nobody on either side has won. As a population, as a community, we're better than this.
Tristan Downey,
Banff
