This past week was a good one as far as education in our valley goes.
Not so much education as in our schools, but education in regard to both saving bears and the workings of municipal government.
As to the workings of municipal government, a number of Banff Grade 12 students were on hand in council chambers, Monday (Sept. 12) when their proposal for a low-cost, green, bike rental program was derail(leured).
Not only did the students learn that even the most well thought out, forward thinking, environmentally-friendly proposal could run afoul of the interests of a given business lobby, they learned what a difficult job a municipal council has in balancing the interests of one group with another.
On the face of it, and at first perusal, the idea of keeping vehicles parked in favour of the rental of low-cost bikes for a tour of the tourism community (or simply for locals to get around, sans gasoline) seemed a good idea. Reducing carbon footprint in our communities is constantly voiced as a concern, after all.
The students’ proposal, however, flew in the face of several businesses already in the business of renting bikes, though at a much higher rental rate than that proposed by the students.
Much like in the city to the east, where the introduction of street food/trucks was seen as a forward thinking move, the trucks are not to be found where a restaurant lobby complained of unfair competition. Despite the fact the city’s mayor pushed hard for inclusion of food trucks on the street, they are not allowed in certain areas heavily populated by bricks-and-mortar restaurants.
In Banff council chambers, meanwhile, even among the students themselves (page 9), the Grade 12s learned a valuable lesson in that there is a difference in support among those with no vested interested in a proposal and those whose vested interest (or their parents) could be negatively affected by said proposal.
We can only hope in future that the shelving of the students’ bike rental proposal doesn’t dampen their zeal for trying to make a difference in their community.
Then there is the situation of our bears being killed on CP Rail tracks which run through the valley.
Like the Banff Grade 12 students, it’s refreshing to see that a Canmore man has taken it upon himself to do something about an issue of importance to valley residents (page 5).
On this editorial page we have pointed out that men have flown and been put on the moon, great ships launched, diseases conquered and great structures built; but no way of stopping trains from plowing into bears, seemingly, can be devised.
We’ve also stated that we realize trains striking and killing bears is an issue of particular interest in this valley, but not elsewhere where bears don’t frequent tracks or aren’t viewed with the same sense of protection.
The fact that a proposed variable velocity warning trajectory safety system would also save human lives, as designed, makes the invention of much more consequence in regard to rail safety – across Canada, not just in our valley.
Whether or not the inventor gets anywhere with putting his proposal before the upcoming Sept. 28-29 Parks Canada-Canadian-Pacific Railway research symposium remains to be seen, but at least someone is taking steps in the right direction.
