CALGARY COMEBACK?

Re Looking For Life In An OfficeTower Ghost Town (Oct. 16): For me, the implosion of downtown Calgary did not begin with the 2014 slump in oil prices, but with the explosion of the downtown Calgary General Hospital on Oct. 4, 1998, during Ralph Klein’s premiership.

After that, Calgary was left without a major emergency department to serve the downtown core. Many international conventions were reluctant to come to a city without a major hospital downtown. Many Albertans were likewise leery of committing to living downtown.

In The Sun Also Rises, Ernest Hemingway writes that bankruptcy happens “gradually, then suddenly.” The demise of downtown Calgary sadly has followed the same trajectory. It can only be hoped that people of vision in the newly elected city council will revitalize it. My wife and I fondly remember the many great times we had in the city. Kevin Byrne Sarnia, Ont.