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Originally Posted by Fuzz
Well no, because I understand that ultimately they will have nowhere left to go. Which means we will have replaced them, not lived with them. There is only so much capacity in the valley, and we are pretty obviously expending past it.
I know you are looking for some sort of gotcha FYGM sort of narrative, but the reality is when my dad passes I won't be able to afford Canmore, and it will be a lost home to me. We'll have to sell and never come back, except day trips. When he moved from Northern Alberta, the town was on it's way to vanishing, and it was cheaper to live in than Banff, so he chose it for economic reasons more than anything. And he moved there for a job, not the the way around. He certainly didn't buy it as a second home to use 50 days a year, drive up prices and taxes on residents, and chase away families. Oh, and try to scare the #### out of any wildlife he might have come upon.
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I honestly don't care if you can't afford to live there just because your dad did. My dad had a property on 1/3 of an acre within Calgary that was huge and beautiful and simultaneously owned multiple Mercedeses, a Porsche and any number of other cool things. I couldn't dream of the level of wealth he had. He spent 99.9% of it before he died and I started out in a small condo in Braeside with two roommates as my first place with 5% down.
I know Canmore people like to complain that their kids can't afford to live there. Okay. That's everyone everywhere. There was never birthright access to that town for you, so I don't know why you think that's anything anybody should care about.
Animals can go anywhere or nowhere. IDGAF. People in Canmore - like your dad and you on his behalf - do have a FYGM attitude because if you didn't, he/you wouldn't have a place there. He'd move out of the valley and advocate for it from afar. There is no way to be logically consistent and say 'no more people should live in Canmore' while you're one of the people living in Canmore contributing to the population you view as overpopulated. Plus it'll all burn down in our lifetime, anyway, so in some ways, who even cares.
I, on the other hand, prioritize people over squirrels and am perfectly happy to build, build, build. There should be cool roads weaving up the mountains on all sides like in Austria. Gondolas connecting towns. We could make it so rad.
The literal only reason you can't afford to live in Canmore with the sky-high real estate prices is because Canmorites continue to block efforts to build to meet demand. FAFO
We're also not driving up taxes on residents. Do you honestly go to Canmore, look around at the beautiful infrastructure and think,
yep, it's the service industry (only industry in town)
that is paying enough taxes to support what you see? I mean, lol, go to Sundre or Olds - that's the dump Canmore would be without external money like mine pouring in.
And our taxes hurt residents? Don't believe stupidity. I pay the same taxes as a full-timer (well, until next year when council raises them 300% unless they lose the court battle we fought against them like they lost for the 2025 tax year lol - at a cost of six figures to taxpayers), but use the services and infrastructure 1/3 the time. They're the luckiest - and most ungrateful - dimwits on the planet to not appreciate what part-time residents contribute.
And you can ignore everything I've said, but riddle me this: if the 26% of homes that are now occupied by part-time residents all of a sudden become inventory for full-time residents, what impact would that have on the valley? Do you really want them to have to build more schools, expand the roads, upgrade the sanitation/water services, build another hospital, add another old-folks home, build a hospice, increase waste capacity, build more professional offices for doctors, lawyers, dentists, optometrists, etc. etc. The worst thing that could happen to the town would be to increase the population by 35%+ full-time residents, which is precisely what you are advocating for if you want to turn part-time homes into full-time homes.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Fuzz
You seem to think everyone should have an opportunity to live there, but don't seem to understand the economic realities limiting that, so really you mean everyone who can afford to live there should be able to. And #### the bears.
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I understand the economic realities. It's the people that move there and then bellyache that they can't afford to live there that are stupid. I know I can't afford to live there full time, which is why I live in Calgary. I'd be a dope of the highest order to move to Canmore, buy a million dollar home and expect to be able to afford life while working as a waiter at The Grizzly Paw. What kind of abject fool lives in a place they can't afford to live? Why would you give them any sympathy? I'm grinding it out in Calgary - and have for 28 years - because there are economic advantages to doing so. I would prefer to live in Canmore, but there's no industry there that would have allowed me to own a home, save for my kids' education and fund my retirement. So, I live in Calgary and will do so until I retire.
So, yeah, if you can afford to live there you should be able to. If you can't afford to live there, I guess you can't. How is the controversial or rude to the ears of a Canmorite? It's basic AF.
Should I get a job at the Bearspaw gas station and then get on their Facebook page and bitch and moan about not being able to afford a Bearspaw home? That's the exact logic this group-think-having morons in Canmore employ.
It's like this: live in Canmore and enjoy a multi-million dollar living experience, but sacrifice earning potential and owning a home, or live in Calgary, stare out your window at the Foothills Industrial Park (like I'm doing right now), make more money and then do what you are free to do with that money (in my case, I bought a vacation home in Canmore so I could be sht on by #######s in Canmore because they make dumb life decisions). I get a worse daily life living in Calgary in many ways, but I enjoy my place in Canmore to the extent I can. It's a trade-off I'm making because I'm realistic and have a brain in my head. People in Canmore are the dumbest sacks of assclowns on the planet to not recognize you can't have a job of "hiking guide" while simultaneously owning a home in what is one of the HCOL places in North America. Sorry, guy, guess you're sharing a room with six of your closest buddies on a mouse-infested dump...but you get to post yoga videos with Three Sisters in the background, so that's cool.
Did I tell you this before? My wife's family is from Nice, France. She goes there once every couple of years to check out the old digs. They couldn't dream of affording anything anywhere close to Nice now. She loves going with her aunt because the house her dad and aunt grew up in is still there. Guess what people in Nice are like to her? Just like Canmore people are to me (and will be to you when your dad is gone). #######s. Entitled #######s with no brains.