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There are few places in the world that can compare with the Bow Valley for the mixture of location, scenery and quality of life. Lying within one of the most spectacular areas in North America, the town has grown steadily over the past several years as tourism continues its booming growth. This rapid growth now threatens to endanger the very qualities that makes Canmore so popular with its residents and visitors alike.

We are sitting at a crossroads. The decisions we make over the next few years will forever alter the tranquility of this unique valley and, as a result, must be made with the utmost care. Do we rush headlong into a development frenzy or do we take the time to carefully inventory our assets and devise a proper long term plan. At the moment, we appear to be choosing the former. As we sit with golf course after golf course looming over our heads, we should ask ourselves several important questions.

The first question must be "why do I live in the Bow Corridor?" Your answer to this question will go a long way to establishing your stance regarding the concepts of development. Don't get me wrong, I am in no way anti-development. I make my living through tourism and my pocket book stands to benefit substantially with increased tourism traffic. However, I also plan to work in the area for many years to come and don't want my personal Mecca to fall victim to short sighted and poorly planned developments.

Along with increased development comes a multitude of environmental issues. Until these are seriously dealt with, no development should be allowed. We only have one chance to chance to do it right and we cannot afford to compromise our little piece of paradise for the sake of a few dollars. At present, most of the environmental concerns haven't been properly addressed. We can't afford to rush this process---even at the risk of losing projects. If a developer is really serious about his claims of long term benefits to the area, a delay of a year or so isn't going to make a whole lot of difference.

In addition, we should be looking at the entire Bow Valley as a unified package. Visitors experiences aren't divided into distinct parcels simply because Alberta Tourism, in all its wisdom, decided to lump Canmore and Kananaskis with Calgary while designating Banff as its own tourism zone. We need to work with Banff to develop a full range of facilities throughout the valley. Canmore can learn a lot, both positive and negative, from our nearest neighbour and it's about time we began tearing down some of the barriers we've built between us. We should be developing a Bow Corridor Master Plan--not merely a Canmore or Banff version.