I’ve been hearing how growth is important to Cochrane.
People are moving here because they love what this town is, it’s quiet, comfortable, overall pretty safe and close to amenities.
But to tell you the truth, most of that “bull-crap” as the farmers say, sounds a lot like a description of a memory foam mattress. And it seems more and more like that’s what 67 per cent of Cochranites take this town for: a bedroom community.
What I’ve heard from some of these so called locals is that “I haven’t lived here long enough” or, “I don’t really spend that much time here, I work in the city and this is just a nice place to come home, so I won’t vote.”
While previous councils and developers were busy selling the soul of this town down river for growth and infrastructure, it seems they forgot to tell people that this isn’t just a bedroom, this is a town and a community with democratic responsibilities just like Calgary or Edmonton or even Airdrie if you can believe that.
Cochrane is a living, thriving community based around the hard work of ranchers. There’s history, there’s life beyond the bedroom, and it’s sad that 67 per cent of this town cannot see that.
I moved here close to 10 years ago when my family couldn’t afford to live in Canmore anymore and owning a home wasn’t possible. Cochrane was our land of opportunity and we’ve all reaped the benefits Cochrane has to offer.
So excuse me if I seem a little confused by the voter apathy, but, as long as I can remember, I have lived a proud life because I live in a town and country where a democratic right and obligation to vote was protected by the Charter. A charter by which men and women died to prove Canada deserved those rights.
Men like my grandfather, who, at 16-years-old, watched his friends die in battle so that we could have the pride to call ourselves an independent nation.
Forgive me if I come off strong, but by not voting, not being an informed Canadian, in my opinion, you are telling the current generation and all those in the past and future, that what Canada stands for is apathy, a lack of concern for the well being of your town, of your bedroom community, of your Canada.
But you, the 67 per cent, chose not to vote in Cochrane. So please don’t complain if your taxes need to be raised, when highways don’t get twinned, when your town invests in wooden tricycles, and especially don’t complain when you realize that Cochrane doesn’t have a transit system into Calgary in the next five years.
