Banff mayor criticizes Copps’s tactics on town plan

June 22, 1998
Source: Edmonton Journal
Original story - link verified on August 20, 2000
By Johnnie Bachusky

The federal government is using Banff as a pawn on the international environmental stage while Heritage Minister Sheila Copps treats the mountain resort's 6,000 citizens like "pond scum," Mayor Ted Hart says in an interview. As Copps is preparing to respond to the town's controversial community plan, possibly as early as today, Hart attacked the minister for not informing Banff town council earlier this month that she intended to reject the plan. Copps said the town's proposal to develop an additional 850,000 square feet of future commercial growth was unacceptable and that she would not give it federal approval. The federal minister rejected the first draft plan last September, which also proposed the same 850,000 square feet of additional commercial growth.