April 23rd. 2001- Alberta Legislature.	back to archives
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MS. DeLong
Mr. Speaker, it is my great pleasure to rise for the address in reply to the Speech from the Throne and give my maiden speech in the Alberta Legislature on behalf of my constituents of Calgary-Bow.
Now, many other members have risen in this Assembly to state that their riding is the most beautiful in Alberta, and Calgary-Bow is certainly a place of great beauty, but I'll come back to that later.
Right now through you I wish to inform the hon. members that Calgary- Bow has the most warmhearted, hospitable people in Alberta.
During this last election I knocked on about 10,000 doors, and that's nearly every home in the constituency.
From Valley Ridge on the outskirts of Calgary, through Greenwood meadows, through Parkdale, through Briar Hill, through St. Andrews Heights, through West Hillhurst, through Hounsfield Heights I found hospitality.
I found people that sometimes did not agree with me, but they unerringly were polite and hospitable and kindhearted. So many times I went away just feeling incredibly warmed by these people.
In the centre of Calgary-Bow is the old town of Bowness.
Though it was swallowed up by Calgary many years ago, it has retained its small town identity. Mr. Speaker, Bowness is still a town where even the rural members of this Legislature would feel at home.
Like with many rural communities the young people sometimes move away to the big city of Calgary, but they find their way back to Bowness to raise their own children.
Third and even fourth generation Bownessians are very common. Bowness is bounded on one side by the beautiful Bow River and on the other side by Paskapoo Slopes.
Paskapoo Slopes is a name you will be hearing again in the next while and, I hope, far into the future.
Paskapoo Slopes is an expanse of wilderness that we can raise our eyes to from our kitchen windows, from our backyards, from our front yards, while we're walking down the street.
That strip of nature enriches our everyday life with its clean snow of winter, its first gentle blush of green in the spring, its lush green followed by its breathtaking, flamboyant display of yellows, reds, oranges, and greens in the fall.
Mr. Speaker, those hon. members who represent rural constituencies and thus have the advantage of being surrounded by nature as a common occurrence may find our passion for our few remaining wild places near our homes difficult to relate to.
Those hon. members from Edmonton, who have wisely protected most of their river escarpment, may look down upon Calgary, raise their eyebrows and say: well, duh.
For the daily quality- of-life issues alone these slopes would warrant protection. Paskapoo Slopes are best appreciated from Montgomery, Bowness, Greenwood village, and Valley Ridge, but they're also viewed from Scenic Acres, Tuscany, Arbour Lake, Ranchlands, Silver Springs, Hawkwood, Varsity, Country Hills, Patterson Heights, Strathcona, and Artists View, and by all travelers entering or leaving Calgary by the main western access on the Trans-Canada highway.
For all these tens of thousands of people Paskapoo Slopes is like a park in the sky enriching their everyday life, but Paskapoo Slopes is also an accessible wilderness park right within the city.
It's a natural area that includes ravines, gullies, streams, springs, glades of aspen, balsam poplar, dogwood, and riverine tall shrub.
The slopes are also home to deer, small mammals, coyotes, and a large variety of migratory and breeding birds. Not only is it a home for the animals, but it's also a key wildlife corridor within the city.
Mr. Speaker, most of us members here are familiar with Head-Smashed- In Buffalo Jump, which is UNESCO's world heritage site.
At last count there have been found more than a hundred archeological sites similar to Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump on the Paskapoo Slopes, right within the city of Calgary.
These archeological finds date back as far as 8,000 years ago .
I just checked the historical time line and found that the first habitation at Stonehenge was only 5,000 years ago.
The 8,000-year-old relics at Paskapoo Slopes are quite literally older than the pyramids.What an incredible treasure.
Now, imagine a series of nature trails winding through the trees, bush, ravine, and grasslands of Paskapoo Slopes.
Intersperse these trails with discreet interpretive centres that take the visitor back thousands upon thousands of years into Alberta's past: days of the mighty buffalo and of whom and what?
We don't know all the stories that these archeological sites will tell.
These interpretative centres could display archeological evidence from the very spot that a person was standing upon.
Mr. Speaker, our esteemed Premier Ralph Klein is an honorary chief of both the Siksika and Tsuu T'ina Indian nations on the edges of Calgary.
For these peoples the Paskapoo Slopes are more than just a heritage to be proud of.
They are much more personal.
These slopes can provide the clues to tell the long-lost stories of their ancestors.
To ravage these sites would be a personal affront to their very identities.
Time is of the essence.On December 5 Calgary city hall approved residential development on 164 acres of Paskapoo Slopes.
Development has not yet proceeded.Can we afford to provide the day-to-day quality of life that Paskapoo Slopes gives to tens of thousands of surrounding residents?
Can we afford to provide the wilderness experience to people right within Calgary?
Can we afford to continue to provide a wildlife corridor within the city?
Can we afford to respect the history of our native peoples?
Will the additional tourist dollars coming into Alberta from all over the world balance the equation?
These are some of the questions that we will be asked to address over the next few months, and I believe that the members of the Alberta Legislature will say yes.
The Paskapoo Slopes is Alberta's heritage, a pride to us all.
In closing, Mr. Speaker, it has been an honour to deliver my maiden speech to this Assembly, and I look forward to further opportunities to bring forward to this body the issues of my constituents and the concerns of all Albertans.
Thank you, all hon. colleagues and Mr. Speaker.