Wow. Just like that, we have a Canmore council decision to rid the town of the feral rabbits which have been a fixture of the community for years.
It’s a gutsy call by our elected representatives.
We’re impressed that the decision, unlike most others, was made without shelling out tax dollars for a consultant or facilitator to guide them.
On the other hand, we’ve already pencilled in extra space for next week’s Vox Populi section.
Because, as has been seen over the years, about as many people love the rabbits as hate them – and now Canmore will be known as the town that killed the bunnies.
There are those who believe the feral version of pet store rabbits are disease-ridden vermin, while there are also those who love to see the critters romping in Canmore neighbourhoods.
Love ‘em or hate ‘em, the rabbits are on their way out – once a contractor is found to remove and euthanize them.
On the brighter side, kudos to Banff councillors for not only throwing their support and dollars behind hosting the 2014 Alberta Winter Games, but for agreeing to ante up in support of housing for our seniors.
Also heartening is that the MD of Bighorn has agreed to earmark funding toward costs to be incurred in a $19.3 million expansion of Bow River Lodge in Canmore. Funding from the municipalities will go toward operating deficit and debt servicing costs to be incurred from adding 61 housing units.
Both councils should be commended for the effort on behalf of the seniors and for showing a spirit of inter-municipal cooperation.
Being that funding to keep seniors in the Valley will be put into housing infrastructure located in Canmore, both councils are to be commended for looking at the big picture of what is best, rather than what looks best within the Town of Banff or the MD.
Even though the actual housing construction will be in Canmore, it’s much better to keep seniors close at hand, from any given community, than have them leaving due to a care facility shortage.
Local media not world media
Lisa Kudrow, Howie Mandel, Caroline Rhea, Ed Asner and Eugene Levy.
What do these TV and movie stars have in common? They were all in the Bow Valley this week to attend the Banff World Media Festival.
But you wouldn’t know it by looking through the pages of local media outlets like the Rocky Mountain Outlook.
Apparently when they dubbed the festival, which has been held in Banff for 32 years, to be for world media it meant every kind of media other than the local guys.
That’s right, your hardworking local scribes and photographers were not granted media accreditation to this event because of the “overwhelming amount of accreditation requests this year”.
Other than the fact this event occurs in Banff, we often ask ourselves what local relevance it holds.
It does employ local people and has an economic benefit to the community as an annual event. It also taps into our local volunteers to make it a success.
We would like to thank the festival for fostering a Hollywood attitude in the Rockies this year – maybe we’ll try again in 2012.
