It’s good to stop and get a little perspective once in a while.
As regular readers may recall, before I came to the Rocky View Weekly, I spent 18 months working as the sole reporter in Crowsnest Pass, Alberta. Last week, that community saw dozens of its fire services staff turn in their pagers and walk off the job after long fire-fighting careers – some as long as 40 years.
The move was made in protest of the Municipality’s announcement that Blairmore Fire Chief Jamie Margetak had been “relieved of active duty” after 34 years on the job.
Several firefighters and Crowsnest Pass residents have speculated that Margetak was let go due to his criticism of the Municipality’s plans to amalgamate its four current fire departments. (To offer some background, the Municipality of Crowsnest Pass was incorporated in 1979 from the former towns of Blairmore, Hillcrest, Frank, Bellevue and Coleman, which are separated from one another by no more than a kilometre. Since that time, the community has experienced growing pains, to put it lightly.)
What’s not helping to quell the community’s outrage is the fact the Municipality will not comment on why Margetak was fired.
As of Oct. 5, more than half of the firefighters - including the entire Blairmore department and members of the other three stations in Coleman, Hillcrest and Bellevue - had turned in their pagers or announced their intention to quit, with several others vowing to do the same if Margetak was not reinstated. Residents also gathered at the Municipal Office in Coleman on Oct. 4 to protest the matter.
This is just one of many scandals that have rocked the small mountain community of 5,565 in recent years, including many on which I reported during my time there. It was emotionally draining and relentlessly frustrating, to say the least.
I think of this and I am grateful to now be in Rocky View County.
That is not to say Rocky View is without its issues, many of which centre around residential development, water servicing, infrastructure, community facilities and agricultural land preservation in its rural areas.
But what is encouraging is that these problems stem from Rocky View’s need to grow and accommodate the ever-increasing number of people who want to live here.
Crowsnest Pass is a town that has seen its population steadily declining in recent years. This might seem baffling, as its prime location in Alberta’s Rocky Mountains should make it a sought-after community to live in. But the problems it faces include an aversion to change and grow, which hinders the ability to develop additional housing or attract commercial or industrial businesses.
So while that town is floundering, this community is growing and prospering. I attend Rocky View council meetings and community events every week, and every week it seems there is a new residential development in the works or facility opening up.
In the past three weeks, I have attended the grand opening of the Bragg Creek Water Treatment Plant, the Elbow Valley Fire Hall, and a Crossfield seniors’ housing complex known as the Rocky View Lodge.
I have reported on plans to develop Bingham Crossing in Springbank, residential developments in Bearspaw and Grand Valley, an expansion to Prince of Peace, the planned construction of the Bearspaw Emergency Services Centre and water and wastewater infrastructure, community facility expansions in Indus, Cochrane and Chestermere, the CN Rail park in Conrich, and the constantly growing industrial and commercial centre that is Balzac.
So really, when you think about it, we’re pretty lucky to live in Rocky View. If you disagree, I encourage you to visit one of the hundreds of Alberta communities that wish they had the County’s problems.
