In 1994, after 5 years of public consultation -- the most extensive such consultation in Calgary's history -- the City of Calgary adopted a long term transportation strategy which was to serve as the basis of all transportation policy decisions for the next 30 years. This plan was called the Go Plan.
The Go Plan is a wide ranging document that covers transportation from every conceivable angle. Given its popular basis, moreover, it is a significant statement of our values as Calgarians.
One of the key elements of the Go Plan is a commitment to protecting our treasured river valleys for the coming 30 years. The many hundreds of citizens who participated in the creation of the Go Plan made it abundantly clear that Calgarians valued Weaselhead, Edworthy Park, Sandy Beach and other important riverine natural areas.
For this reason, the Go Plan removed from the books a plan to build a freeway through Edworthy Park. It also removed a plan to build a freeway over Sandy Beach and it committed to building around the Weaselhead and around our drinking water instead of through the park and over our water supply.
That Calgarians were largely satisfied by this document is clearly demonstrated by the fact that the Go Plan's final recommendations were approved by Council and were accepted as fundamental guiding principles for the coming three decades.
The day after it passed, however, large land holders on the city's southern boundary started working to undermine the Go Plan. It did not matter to these southern plantation owners that the Go Plan did not prevent the city from growing east or north or even, to some degree, west.
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All that mattered to them was that by committing to protect our river valleys and our water sources the Go Plan threatened to slow down a construction free-for-all that was growing out of control in the deep south.
These land owners did not (and still do not) see places like Weaselhead or Edworthy or Sandy Beach as integral to the quality of our lives. They do not see them as foundation stones in the city's parks system or as significant bulwarks against the collapse of our urban ecosystem.
When these folks look at these places, all they see are green blotches on paper maps that are preventing them from realizing a profit on their investments.
Yes we are a growing city. Yes developers have a right to earn a living and yes we definitely need to do some catching up on the infrastructure side of things. With more people moving to Calgary every day, no one believes for a second that our current investment in roads and public transit will adequately keep pace with future demands.
But the last thing we want to do is to be stupid about this. Yes we are a growing city and a growing city needs more roads. But roads are not the only thing we need. A growing city also needs more parks, more trees and more water.
Most importantly, though, Calgary needs clean water. One in five Albertans get their drinking water down stream from Weaselhead. That's every home in southwest Calgary. That's every home south of Fish Creek Park. That's every farm, village and hamlet downstream from Calgary.
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That's why we must be so very careful when we talk about tossing the Go Plan aside as though it was something written by morons. That's why we must urge every driver around us not to let road rage shake loose their grasp on reality.
The Go Plan must be updated. There is no doubt about that. Successive federal and provincial governments have so severely crippled infrastructure investment in Calgary over the past decade that we now have no hope of ever catching up. So for that reason alone we must take another look at our long range transportation plan and re-evaluate our options.
But at the end of the day, we are still going to have to deal with the twin realities of a growing city -- the need for improved transportation and the necessity of preserving our water sources and river valleys. So don't be surprised in the least if the new Go Plan looks a whole lot like the old Go Plan with a new coat of paint.
And don't be surprised if the whole thing comes to an end with drivers in the deep south still complaining that the city's transportation agenda has been hijacked by kooky environmentalists.
© Brent Johner. Originally published in the Calgary Herald, February 2004. Reprint rights available.
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