Does anyone else find it absurd that Stone Creek and the provincial government appear to assume the Canmore community wants major commercial infrastructure built on Lady Macdonald, one of the town’s most accessible and heavily used peaks?
The province has altered the boundary of Bow Valley Wildland Provincial Park and designated this land as an All-Season Resort Area, creating a special regulatory pathway for a privately operated gondola and associated development. That is an extraordinary concession, so the public benefit should be equally extraordinary.
So far, I don’t see it. What is the credible estimate of the net tax benefit after accounting for infrastructure, emergency services, traffic and visitor management? How many permanent, living-wage careers would this actually create, rather than seasonal, lower-wage tourism jobs? How are we valuing the permanent effects on the viewscape, wildlife movement, public land and the character of an incredibly popular local mountain?
Who captures the financial upside, and who carries the long-term costs?
Perhaps I’m missing something. But as a lifelong local, I struggle to understand how the benefits of this project come remotely close to outweighing its permanent costs. If there is a compelling public-interest case, Stone Creek and the province should make it transparently with actual numbers and evidence specific to Canmore, not broad claims about Albertans supporting tourism in general.
