The Residents of Crowsnest Pass October 8th,2025
I want to take a moment to clarify my absence in the Pass Herald Q&A feature last week.
I was contacted via a text by a third party for an opportunity to interview for a Q&A with the Pass Herald. I mistakenly believed it should be the Pass Herald contacting me and avoided the text, so I did not realize there were questions until much later. I subsequently missed the opportunity to submit for this weeks deadline. I simply misunderstood the process and I take full responsibility for it.
I have contacted the paper and have answered the questions published today. I do believe in open honest communication and I am committed to being transparent.
Thank you for the opportunity to continue this important conversation.
Pat Rypien Candidate for Mayor.
1) What is your position on coal mining and the role it should play in the future of the Crowsnest Pass?
I will support any industry that comes to the Crowsnest Pass, if its done honestly and responsibly, they must be willing to work collaboratively with the community and their practices and procedures must respect the safety and environment of the community.
We absolutely need industry in the Crowsnest Pass, we need an opportunity for jobs, opportunity for infrastructure improvement and development, we are facing a growing community and housing needs so we need an industry to create an economy that keeps the community viable into the future. I believe the Grassy Mountain Project could bring economic benefit to this community.
However the decision to open this mine is in the hands of the provincial and federal regulators and not municipal government. There are many steps in the process for the mine and if it is approved we will not see the benefit for at least 5 years from now. The municipality cannot wait we must continue to look for other industry.
2) What is your opinion of the current strategic plan and what would you do to change or support it?
Strategic planning is setting a vision for the Crowsnest Pass by collaborating with the community and then setting goals to achieve it.
I am very interested in continuing to support the good things that have been done. I think the current strategic plan has been well thought through and certainly Doug Griffiths and his partner agree (I like Doug Griffiths and find inspiration in his Thirteen ways to kill your community).
I think the current Strategic plan needs a review and an update to reflect the current status of the community. There is no affordable housing in the community right now. There is no diverse housing or not nearly enough and no workforce housing. There could be a better effort or additional policy development to further address aging in place. While there is good broadband there is additional technology that continues to be developed and we could benefit by upgrading and or extending ours.
There should be follow through on incubator space, Welcoming initiatives (is very lacking), intensive search for industry to create economic development and stability are some of the changes I would like to see.
3) How do you see the role of council vs the role of the CAO and Municipal administration?
Council has the role of Governance, responsible to draft bylaws, policies, create a vision for the municipality and set goals. Council also approves the budget, but is not involved in the day to day operations of the business of the Municipality.
Council is elected by the public and must create a strategic plan, collaborate and work with the community helping council to make decisions that address community needs and concerns.
The CAO is hired by Council.
His job is to lead the operation and business of the Municipality and he/she is expected to implement decisions made by the entire council.
The CAO manages all municipal staff, and reports to the entire council.
Direction to the CAO is done through bylaws, policies, goals and the strategic plan set by council. The CAO is expected to advise Municipal council to make decisions based on the Municipal Government Act.
Evaluation of the CAOs performance should be done annually based on these directives.
4) How would you address the housing shortage in the community?
I will create a plan to involve the housing experts ie. the Contractors and home builders, Trades people, Real Estate experts, Land Developers and the community to start. These are the folks I believe can offer assurance so development happens in the best interest of the community.
I believe there is an opportunity to work with provincial and other government agencies to improve availability for affordable housing.
We must continue to address the need for housing that considers Aging in Place for our senior population.
We must very quickly address workforce housing so Healthcare professionals and auxiliary staff can stay and work here.
I am not sure but if zoning, building codes, cutting red tape, and diverse housing types and incentives for developers can be considered it could be another option to address the housing crisis. I will be interested in community responses as I believe there are people in the community that have great ideas and maybe even potential solutions.
5) How would you approach municipal taxes and spending—Would you reduce costs, shift priorities,or invest in new services like recreation and beautification?
I believe we can reduce taxes responsibly, eliminate waste management debt with discipline and grow our economy smarter with honest leadership, financial transparency and collaborative planning (with community). We need to stabilize our tax base and maybe we can try to attract low cost high return businesses or light industry using the infrastructure we have. Perhaps we can do this while we plan for larger industry like the mine. We could consider performance based incentives.
A shift in priorities and responsible spending should be considered by a new council.
We need to consider debt reduction by setting debt reduction targets. We wont grow our way out of debt by building more, we need to build smarter.
I would recommend a Budget advisory committee with input from influential groups such as Community Futures, Chamber of Commerce, Heritage Crowsnest, the Community and Council and I would recommend Citizen budget workshops for input. Are there ways to grow the recreational amenities that we have, like the ski hill, like the pool, like the trails with greater involvement, more social activities around them? I am positive the community will have some great ideas. I believe beautification of the Crowsnest is vital to the community but people need to be better informed over a longer period of time to understand and accept change but most importantly have input before development.
Thankyou to the Pass Herald and the community for this opportunity
Pat Rypien Candidate for Mayor