ROB MURRAY: The big topic of conversation being the Three Sisters Mountain Village marathon public hearing which has now officially wrapped up. Have you ever seen this level of engagement over anything in your time on council and as mayor?

MAYOR JOHN BORROWMAN: I have not. I Googled “longest public hearings at one point, just to see, and I can’t find anything that compares. It was definitely exhaustive and exhausting, but I feel really positive how the Town responded to the required process to hold a public hearing in the context of COVID. We had a lot of people take part. There was 260 some speakers and shy of 1900 written submissions. If this had been an in person public hearing at Town Hall or something, I doubt very much we would have seen that level of participation. It may have looked seamless to the public, I don’t know if it did or not, but it wasn’t. It was a huge job. There were three people in the Municipal Clerk’s office, Cheryl and her assistants Sarah and Cheyenne, and in the communications department Robyn and I think some of her team members. There was a lot of work going on behind the scenes. I was in regular text communication with Sarah to be sure who was next up, because people weren’t able to show up on their scheduled time or people had said they would speak for two to three minutes and spoke for 10 or 11. It was a really challenging piece of work and they pulled it off beautifully. I’m proud of the team at the Town of Canmore that made this work. It’s kind of interesting to think back because last year, as this was starting to roll forward, I heard from a number of people who suggested we couldn’t move forward with the process under COVID restrictions because it wouldn’t be fair, that there wouldn’t be a good opportunity for public to give feedback. I think we’ve learned differently.

RM: Not only that, but the work that went into some of those presentations. I was watching intently throughout the six days of public engagement. There were these very well-researched PowerPoint presentations. That was really impressive to me.

JB: Very impressive. I mean, we know we have an amazing community and so many educated and considered people, people that think a lot about the issues, but even knowing that it was awesome to listen to some of the presenters and to see how much work they’d put into their 10 minute presentation. It was humbling to watch that and take part in that process.

RM: it must be a challenge to go through that level of public engagement, sort out all the information that you’ve received, and also sort through some of the misinformation that might be out there as well. Tanya, I know this is something you’ve addressed in your, your editorial this week.

TANYA FOUBERT: I think misinformation is a manipulation. Studies have shown that misinformation spreads faster than facts and truth, especially on social media. What I love too, as you both said, is the level of engagement and thoughtfulness and dialogue that many people are having, but there have been some things suggested. For example, that this is too big of a decision for Council to make, they don’t have the mandate to do it, and that some other process should be used. For example, a plebiscite. The reality is this is exactly the kind of decision that council is legislated to make under the Municipal Government Act. There are absolutely zero other processes, legally, for development approval and Area Structure Plan approvals un Alberta. People who are out there suggesting that there’s some other way to do this are setting people up to be disappointed that that’s not being considered. It’s not being considered because it can’t be considered.

RM: I don’t even know how a plebiscite would work. “Should Three Sisters develop?” I mean, that’s something else you address in your editorials, the dichotomy between all or nothing, the yes or no, black or white. It’s really not that simple. It’s it’s a lot more nuanced than that. I think we’ll see some of those nuances when we get to second reading. What are the next steps here?

JB: The next step is second reading, and I’m not certain when that will be scheduled. My guess is it will be towards the end of next month. There could be a number of amendments proposed by Councilors at second reading. If there are amendments proposed likely there would be some time between second and third reading in order for Council to fully consider the amendments that were made at second. This isn’t likely to end in the next short while but I would hope that council can bring the bylaws to third reading within a couple of months.

RM: It’s pretty complicated though. It sounds like there are a lot of moving parts here, a lot for Administration to consider as well.

JB: You touched on that. This is not a simple yes/no question. This is a very complex and very detailed question, and there’s so much opportunity for council to adjust, in ways, the vision that’s been brought forward, and to shape the build-out if that’s approved. There are many tools that Council has at our disposal to shape the Area Structure Plans.

Filed under: Canmore, Mayor John Borrowman, Mountain Insider, Three Sisters Mountain Village