To look to one’s future, it’s important to both understand and remember the past.
Across Canada, one of the main creations of communities in the 18th Century was the development of a rail system that connected the massive country coast-to-coast.
Completed in 1885, the connection was an important aspect voiced at the Charlottetown Conference in 1864 that led to Canadian Confederation under the British North America Act in 1867.
Before the invention of the automobile and aircraft, rail was king in moving and connecting people.
As first reading was given by Banff council to the 17.4-hectare Banff Railway Lands area redevelopment plan (ARP) on Monday (Dec. 11), its revitalization of the train station lands have been long discussed and highly polarized given the implications it could ultimately have in the Bow Valley.
Its development – if allowed to move forward – is the first major step in any potential Calgary to Banff rail connection. Without a plan in place for the station, the likelihood of a rail connection from one of the largest cities in western Canada to the country’s prime tourist spot would take a step back.
Of course, any rail twinning would need consent from Canadian Pacific Railway, require considerable private and public sector investment and should have significant public engagement.
The ARP itself has much to offer that would benefit the Banff townsite and Banff National Park. It would rejuvenate a prime area in the townsite, provide significantly more parking spots and create badly needed housing. If it becomes a transit hub, it could lead to fewer people relying on personal vehicles accessing Banff and surrounding areas.
Though Banff council can approve or deny the ARP, under federal legislation Parks Canada and the Minister of Environment and Climate Change ultimately wield the hammer of whether it continues.
Parks Canada has been adamant if an aerial gondola from the train station to Mt. Norquay Ski Resort is included in the ARP, it will not gain federal consent.
An April 2023 memorandum from Parks Canada CEO Ron Hallman to Minister Steven Guibeault – obtained by the Outlook through an Access to Information and Privacy request – emphasizes Parks Canada reviewed two draft ARPs in 2022 and it did not meet the requirements of federal legislation of the Canada National Parks Act and 2022 Banff National Park Management Plan.
“[Parks Canada provided] clear and consistent feedback that the ARP does not demonstrate conformance with applicable policy and legislation. … Parks Canada also provided specific suggestions to bring the draft plan into conformance so that it could proceed to environmental review. To date, Parks Canada’s concerns have not been addressed.”
Two feasibility studies for aerial transit via a gondola in 2018 and 2019 by Liricon Capital had Parks Canada find “the proposed construction of a gondola on park land outside established leasehold boundaries did not demonstrate conformance with key legislation and policies pertaining to limits to commercial development and ski area management in Banff National Park,” according to Hallman’s memorandum to the federal minister.
The memorandum and past examples highlight Parks Canada’s insistence an aerial gondola is not part of the ARP.
The 2022 Banff National Park Management Plan is also silent on a gondola, which Banff field unit superintendent Sal Rasheed has publicly stated means it’s off the table and will not be considered. Rasheed later emphasized this stance with a letter to Banff council last February that Parks Canada is unlikely to recommend ministerial approval if infrastructure for a gondola to Mt. Norquay remains.
Though receiving first reading – the necessary step to proceed to a public hearing in March – the ARP will likely be an intense discussion in the community for the coming months. Much can change before subsequent readings are considered, especially with the Liberal minority government potentially seeing an ouster if a federal election is called prior to its next scheduled one on Oct. 20, 2025.
The project received an impressive stack of letters of support from a veritable who’s who in the Bow Valley.
But if the ARP is going to move forward, only one letter has any meaning and it's federal support from Parks Canada. Without that, the train will remain in the station.
