A waste of an election……

It saddens me that this election campaign saw very little of the issues as parties were so busy trying to stir up controversy, real or embellished, that we did not get to hear about issues important for us. Deerfoot Trail north of downtown is in desperate need of attention, and I am not sure any party has a plan to address it. The Deerfoot/Memorial Interchange is often ranked the top accident location in Calgary and I swear the infrastructure has not been changed since 100000 people moved into North Calgary and Airdrie. The merge lane from northbound Mcknight Blvd ends about 200m before the exit lane for 64th Avenue begins, and this backs up traffic beyond Memorial Drive in rush hour, but there was no discussion about it.

The North Calgary High School was silently taken out of the plans in 2007. The North Calgary Diagnosis and Treatment Centre, it too, quietly taken out of plans around the same time. The bus fees and lunchroom fees that 20 year old communities pay because they do not have schools, really is a tax, and it is going up, but no one talked about that when Premier Redford claimed no tax increases. The Nose Creeek valley that the city plans on turning into an industrial park when it possibly contains significant history to the Province of Alberta, yeah, nobody talked about that either. A much needed Cardel Place expansion and 4 new recreation centres? Yeah, nobody talked about them either. The lack of social services, youth services, and family services in North Calgary? And again, nobody talked about them either. As you can see, there is a pattern here. North Calgary has been ignored a long time, and sadly this election likely hasn’t changed that, because nobody ever had the chance to talk about issues.

No matter who wins, I think all parties should be ashamed, and I hope the citizens of Calgary learn from this election.