Calgary Wants Control of Rocky View and Some Want to Give it to Them
There’s a battle underway for control of development in Rocky View, Foothills, and Wheatland County. Calgary wants to control the land surrounding their city to sterilize it and preserve it as a land bank so when their urban sprawl spreads out, they can annex the barren land and continue to stack-n-pack to their high-density urban delight. It’s a recipe for disaster as it would completely erode the Rocky View advantage and the uniqueness that makes Rocky View the thriving municipality that it is.
Rural councils understand this and stand united in their opposition to the snide control of the Calgary Metropolitan Region Board (CMRB). Well, maybe not all of them. While all three rural councils voted against the CMRB’s proposed growth plan, there are three Councillors in Rocky View who seem to believe in the central planning control by the CMRB. Not surprisingly, it is the formerly sanctioned three: Councillors Samantha Wright, Crystal Kissel, and Kevin Hanson. They, and their supporters, seem to prefer handing over the keys of Rocky View and indeed all rural municipalities to the big brother next door, instead of defending us. They’re playing for the other side.
Consider that CrossIron Mills mall and its 4000 plus full-time equivalent employees would not be here if it came forward today. It would have been voted down by Calgary and a few of the other urbans would have been only too happy to fall in line to support Calgary, undercutting their own municipality along the way. Harmony Beef and its 500 employees in the agriculture sector would not be here either. It too would be a victim of the controlling, anti-free enterprise Board which, led by Naheed Nenshi, has been bullying Rocky View and the other rural communities around the table.
You may wonder why anybody in Rocky View would support such a Board.
How can anybody support letting Calgary bureaucrats and left-leaning politicians decide what happens in their municipality? How can anybody support such a clear violation of democratic freedoms and property rights? Does a landowner have no say over what happens on their property? Does a resident of one municipality have to be governed by the council of another municipality? These are all valid questions, and even asking them reveals a troubling reality unfolding.
The fact is, there are some that see the CMRB as a way to stop development and growth. They naively believe that the CMRB means no growth will occur in Rocky View and therefore, being anti- development, they support the Board. The reality is, they are cutting off their nose in spite of their face. By sterilizing Rocky View lands and preserving them for Calgary to develop when they see fit, they are literally setting the stage for the urban style densities, and stack-n-pack housing they moved to Rocky View to get away from. If you need a visual, just look to the Calgary developments adjacent to Bearspaw and Springbank. That’s what is coming if Calgary gets its way, and that will forever change the character and unique quality we’ve all come to appreciate in Rocky View.
Handing the keys of Rocky View, Foothills, and Wheatland County over to Calgary is an ultimately futile and bad idea. We need to make sure that politicians in these rural municipalities learn about the implications of their positions and continue to stand up for rural Albertans and preserve the lifestyles that others have spent years, and even generations, sculpting. Any politician who would support another jurisdiction’s growth plan over their own municipality is never a voice worth electing.
Bruce McAllister is the former MLA of Chestermere – Rocky View, and a well known advocate for property rights and democratic freedoms.
