EDITOR - City Council's Wanderlust

The shrieking and fussing over the travel of the Mayor of Calgary and council members is sounding a might hollow.

In case those in the media who are trying to build a mountain out of mole-hill have missed, Calgary is a big city in a big world.

Calgary trades with and in the world.

Calgary is not an island unto ourselves, where the world comes to us.

It only makes sense that if Calgary wants to be a true player on the world's stage, with a city that not only looks world-class, but also actually is, and then our Mayor and Council must travel.

Could there be a better idea somewhere in those 6,000,000,000 heads that will help us to make better use of the environmental footprint we inflict on the land, air and water around us?

The Mayor and or Council members can show those same 6,000,000,000 how despite the whining about Kyoto, Calgary is actually powering our LRT with the wind, and helping do our small part towards the greenhouse gas emission problem?

As Calgary communicates and trades with the world, we have to increase our view of how the world relates to Calgary and and the potential for Calgarians to do great things in it.

There is not a business in this city with a budget of over $1.6 billion and growing, with 1,000,000 shareholders, who live on one of the largest municipal land bases in the world, that would give it a second thought in having their Chairperson or Directors, go forth and see what the world has to offer to the company and what the company has to offer the world.

It is time for the people, media, and political pundits of Calgary to stop looking into the future, wishing and whining about being on the stage.

There are countries and cities the size of Calgary and smaller that have so much to offer us, and we have so much to offer them. To do either, you must have some face time.

Face it people. Calgary is more than the Calgary Stampede, and few in the world even care that we have the Calgary Stampede.