I’m a single mother. When I travel, I go out of my way to eat and shop at locally-owned businesses, to show my boys that different parts of the world are in fact different. That Canada is not one contiguous extension of Toronto. That Canmore and Banff are not just Whistler Lite.
Like an invasive species, chain stores are spreading through the world and homogenizing it, while putting more fragile mom-and-pops out of business. Parks Canada protects endangered species of animal. Why can’t Banff and Canmore protect another endangered species: our small businesses?
