Canmore experiencing rapid growth

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 21/05/2022 (1398 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

When I travel to other communities, I often check out the local media and talk to local residents about the issues that are important to them. In addition to a different perspective on how various challenges are addressed in other cities and towns, it also gives me a sense of local values and priorities.

I spent last week travelling throughout Alberta. The first thing that was immediately apparent to me was that almost nobody was wearing a mask anywhere I went in the province. It was below one per cent of people.

It’s easy to feel a subtle form of pressure to not wear a mask when nobody else is wearing one. On one hand, there is an implicit message that it’s safe to not wear a mask. On the other, there is an uncomfortable sense that you don’t want to stand out and be judged by others as the “nervous Nelly” in the crowd.

It was an odd experience, seeing people behave as if the pandemic is totally over or never happened at all.

On the media side, I learned Canmore is suffering from a worsening physician shortage. Since 2020, there has been a net decrease of six primary care doctors. Beyond that, 18 doctors have removed themselves from the list of doctors accepting new patients.

Given the perception of the Bow Valley area as a natural paradise, that may be surprising. After all, who wouldn’t want to live in beautiful Canmore? The problem is everybody does.

The town has experienced huge growth and a massive increase in home prices in the past few years. That surge is now impacting the availability of health care in the area. Indeed, the biggest issue in recruiting and retaining doctors to work there appears to be the high cost of living and housing.

A home that would cost $400,000 in Brandon can cost more than $2 million in Canmore.

A town councillor has proposed a solution to the doctor problem. She suggests restricting family doctor services to only people who live the area, complaining that “people from Cochrane and Calgary” are seeing doctors in Canmore.

That’s an eye-opener. Just imagine telling Brandon doctors they can only treat Brandonites. Can you imagine the reaction if Brandon City Council tried to prevent people from Virden or Neepawa from seeing a doctor in Brandon? Crazy talk.

There were also reports about Canmore businesses struggling to hire staff, again because of the high cost of living. In fact, the editorial and cartoon in the latest Rocky Mountain Outlook each refer to staffing shortages hitting critical levels.

That shortage is causing many businesses to reduce hours. Many restaurants are closed on Mondays and Tuesdays, while many stores had just one staff member working — often the owner.

Staffing issues dominated the paper’s editorial page, but the opposite page had a letter to the editor entitled “Vanmore speaks to greater community issue.” The letter discussed the plight of many local workers who are living in vans (the author called them “vanlifers”), and criticized the fact Canmore now charges $300 per month for them to park overnight on the street. That doesn’t include access to water, electricity, or even a bathroom.

The writer ends by saying, “I’m just trying to be part of the solution to a problem I find more about greed and social justice.”

No kidding. When some of the highest and lowest wage-earners in your community are each suffering from the same issue, there is something very wrong with the situation. When an elected councillor is seriously floating the idea of restricting access to doctors, that says a lot about misplaced priorities.

On two somewhat related issues, Canmore town council has decided that “tourist homes” (which appears to mean homes used for short-term visitors such as Airbnb) will be taxed at the same rate as hotels. That makes sense and is something Brandon City Council should consider.

Canmore council also passed its budget for the current year. A residential home with an assessed value of $1 million will pay municipal property taxes of just $2,449. Compare that to Brandon, where a property assessed at $981,400 (4007 Park Ave.) will pay $6,574.25 in municipal taxes, according to the City of Brandon website.

Maybe that tells us property taxes are way too high in Brandon. Maybe it says the taxes are way too low in Canmore, and that slightly higher property taxes directed toward increasing the supply of affordable housing could make a positive difference for low-income workers the business community desperately needs.

Or maybe it leads to this question: what’s the point of pursuing economic growth in a community if it doesn’t improve the lives of everyone living there?

The success of the former can never come at the expense of the latter.

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