ROB MURRAY: I’m chatting today with Canmore Council candidate Wade Graham. Tell us a little bit about your background and your related experience for the job.

WADE GRAHAM: I’ve been here in the Bow Valley almost 20 years. I moved to Banff to work for CMH, and then moved to Canmore. I originally ran for Council in 2013 – one of the more naive things I’ve honestly done. I didn’t know what I was doing and didn’t have a clue about politics, to be totally honest with you. Since then, I’ve worked a lot of campaigns federally, provincially, and municipally, and I’ve learned a lot about what it takes to win an election and to be a politician. Over the last while I think many people know me from the Bow Valley Engage experience with Three Sisters Mountain Village, and I’m really proud of that. We lobbied hard against the TSMV file, and in the end we got what I think is a positive outcome. That kind of invigorated me to run in this election, and so far it’s going great.

RM: What would be one of the top issues that you’re really passionate about, and maybe some ideas or solutions around that?

WG: There are a couple. The climate emergency is top of mind these days, it has to be. The fires of this summer. I was part of the 2013 floods and a lot of the videos you saw there were mine. I think it’s time that municipalities really step up, and I congratulate the Town of Canmore in declaring a climate emergency, but we need to step more in that direction. I think there are a lot of things that we can do as a municipality. Aside from that, housing is something that everybody wants to talk about and that’s not just a Canmore issue. It’s a national issue, but it’s exacerbated here. We need to make this a town that people can thrive in, not just get by, not just paycheck to paycheck. So many people leave town – I don’t know how many friends you’ve had that have left town over the years, cash out and go other places. That makes me sad. I want to see people stay here and thrive here. I keep saying I want people to die in this town. You know, I want to die in this town. That’s a really hard thing to accomplish. The number of dark houses, complete neighborhoods with nobody living in them, that can’t continue.

RM: What are some answers around the affordability issue? I think it’s one that we’ve been challenged with for many years here, and we’ve moved the needle a little bit.

WG: A little bit. Dealing with vacant houses is one of the things that we really haven’t done. We keep building houses. Behind me, we knocked down a little old home and we’re going to put up a fourplex. The average price of the fourplex was $1.2 million per unit, and one family from Calgary moved into that. I’m watching the same thing happen right beside me again. Densification was supposed to be the solution, and I think we might’ve missed the mark there a little bit, but I do want to see us tackle vacant houses. There are some ideas around how to make that work within the MGA (Municipal Government Act). It was tried a little bit back in the day, but Council backed down at the last minute on basically a primary residence rebate program. Maybe there’s more appetite for that these days. Maybe we do have to look at the MGA and lobby the province to give us more tools to deal with those sorts of problems, because we can’t keep building huge mansions with nobody living in them.

RM: Looking back on the last four years, what’s something you feel this past Council did a good job tackling, and conversely, what’s something you feel they could have done a better job on?

WG: Declaring a climate emergency. That was a declaration that was well past time and I’m glad they got it through. TSMV was one I thought could have been handled better. I know that they were in a rock and a hard place, but to watch it go all the way to third reading, to watch amendments get passed unanimously, to at the 11th hour vote it down…I thought that could’ve been handled differently.

RM: TSMV – if elected to Council it’s probably an issue that’s going to come up next term. How are you approaching the Three Sisters issue?

WG: I had lunch with one of the principals from Three Sisters Mountain Village a week or so ago, and we had a good discussion about the process that happened and the process they’d like to see go forward. I think the town spoke pretty loudly about its values and its principles, and the things they want to see that ASP address. I met with the CAO. She doesn’t think that’ll get out of court for several years. Some other people feel the same way, which I think would be unfortunate. I’d like to see them bring an ASP forward that was palatable, that this town could accept. I don’t want to see us go through what we went through in the last year. That was a painful process. It was agonizing and stressful for the whole community. But I think if TSMV can bring us something forward that is palatable, then I think we can make some headway there, and I’d like to.

RM: If elected, how would you stay engaged with the people, the community?

WG: I think one of the reasons that I’m running is because of the engagement that I have been able to facilitate over the years, not being a politician, I built Canmore Politics and it’s a place for good discussion. I was a principal part of Bow Valley Engage and we created a lot of the narrative that ran around that. I’m known for being a good listener and a good dialoguer with the community. I’ve got a good finger on the pulse of how people feel here and what they’re thinking. I like having good hard conversations about interesting topics, and I want to continue that.

RM: What is another plank and your platform you’d like to discuss that we haven’t really touched on?

WG: We haven’t talked about Truth and Reconciliation. I was born in a town in Northern BC that was right beside a reserve. I worked with Jeff Horvath over the years when he had a program called the Stoney Adventure Group Experience. That was a program that meant a lot to me over the years. I think we need to do more listening. I think we need to bring our Indigenous neighbours to the table for more of those conversations. I know it’s not really a municipality’s role and there’s not a lot of jurisdiction there, but I think there are some things that we can do and there’s some goodwill that we need to build, and we need to listen to their input. There’s a lot to be learned there, a lot of work to be done, and I look forward to those conversations.

RM: Where can people find out more information about you?

WG: My website and Facebook. Email me. I’m happy to have a sit down and have coffee. Go for a walk. Have a Zoom call.

RM: Why should people vote for you?

WG: I’m bold and thoughtful. I’m passionate about this community; I love this place. I know all the people that are running love this town. This election, people have a chance to elect a forward thinking, progressive Council, and I really want to be there for that conversation.

Filed under: Canmore, Municipal Election