The Seven Wonders of Canada
The CBC seems to be on a roll these days, running all sorts of interesting competitions and events. This has really driven their ratings up, and has made them feel like less of a fossil of Canadiana. The latest feather in their cap is to compile a list of the Seven Wonders of Canada. Viewers are invited to submit their nominations for a particular part of Canada that they deem to be special and unique. The criteria is very open ended. Being a proud Edmontonian, I just had to send in a submission. And no, it’s that monstrosity of a mall in the west end.
I sent in a nomination last Monday to place The North Saskatchewan River Valley into consideration. The reason I picked this particular feature? Well here’s what I submitted for my nomination on their online form.
Rather than submit that monstrosity of a mall for consideration, I figured I’d focus on one of Edmonton’s greatest contributions to nature and the urban environment. At 7,400 hectares, the North Saskatchewan River Valley is the largest stretch of urban parkland in North America. With 150KM of trails, it is used year round by Edmontonians for jogging, walking, cycling, snow shoeing, cross-country skiing, and much more. The valley is also home 22 major parks which play host too many picnics and outings, as well as the many festivals that make our city so vibrant during the summer months.
To conclude, the North Saskatchewan River Valley should be one of Canada’s Seven Wonders because not only does it make for a wonderful green break in the urban jungle of our city, but it epitomizes the Canadian love of the outdoors and brings our city together.
The voting starts on Tuesday May 15, and participants can cast their vote online. You get to choose from a short list of nominees. Unfortunately my submission doesn’t appear to be on the list. I’d like to see some sort of turn out, but I’m not too terribly hopeful about it.
That being said, the valley is really awesome. The pictures featured here were taken from downtown, in behind the south tower of Telus Plaza. The whole system pretty much spans from the North East neighbourhood of Clareview / Victoria Trail, all the way to the one of the South West neighbourhoods of which the name escapes me. If you’re up for a very long bike ride, you can follow that route via the interconnected trail system.
Anyhow, I really hope the submission for the North Saskatchewan River Valley floats to the top of the vote. You can check out the competition on The National and Sounds Like Canada.
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It’s really too bad that it didn’t make it onto the shortlist. Those are some pretty nice photos, btw.
At least the Stanley Cup made it onto the list….
Now if only the Stanley Cup can make it back to Canada, all will be right with the world.
The quality of those pictures surprised me, considering I was using some POS disposable I had with me. From the looks of them, I must of caught the magic hour for lighting.