Just a post to let you know what I learned at the recent convention of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) held in Niagara Falls, Ontario. My morning started before 7am as I walked the 25 minute walk from the hotel to the Convention Centre, it was a nice morning and great for a walk. A continental breakfast was offered with oatmeal, bagels and muffins along with coffee. The Opening Ceremonies started at 8:30am and over 1800 delegates were registered. My first workshop, All Investment is Local – How Local Government can support greater Trade and investment in Canada and the World. The guest speakers included the Honourable Ed Fast, Minister of International Trade and Jayson Myers, president & CEO of Canadian Manufactures and Exporters. This workshop was interesting to me as a couple of months ago, I had a history lesson on how industrial and commercial Sooke was in the 50’s and 60’s. In fact, I was told that residents of Victoria commuted to Sooke to work in the fishing and forestry industries. Sooke was also the first Canadian port to export to Chili. The workshop was geared to supporting ideas for small and medium enterprises (SME’s) and what role does local governments play. What did I learn? Growth opportunities for small communities is in emerging economies around the world. What unique opportunities would the community of Sooke have to offer? One idea is that we do have a harbour/port and on the west side of the Island with easy access to the Strait of Juan de Fuca. Perhaps a bit grandiose but maybe there are opportunities. The federal government has identified 22 sectors markets that will provided the greatest impact for Canada. There are over 1 Million small and medium sized business in Canada. How can Sooke play a role in attracting foreign investment in such a big pond? What is the role of the Chambers? Jay Meyers provide insight on what he calls “creating value” in the international market, this value needs to be different to what others have to offer. As a local government you need to ensure strategy and one of the key pieces to this strategy is to have the transportation infrastructure. And Local Government has to be serious about working together. Currently Canada’s trade is primarily with the US at 75% the next largest trading partner is at 7% with only 8% of our exports going to the fastest growing world nations. CREATIVITY is needed to access OPPORTUNITY. I attended the President’s Forum, Are local governments ready to drive the National Agenda? This saw a panel of experts debate the merits of local communities and their role of influence at the national political and economic level. The Key note Speaker was Justin Trudeau and the hall was packed to listen to what he had to offer on behalf of the Liberal Party of Canada on the national front. On Saturday I attended the Plenary on how local governments can access the New Building Canada Fund followed by the Honourable Lisa Raitt, Minister of Transport. This forum looked at the issues of rail and road safety in Canada and the importance of transport infrastructure to get goods to market. Clearly this is an issue for Sooke. How do we move in or out with the current status of highway 14? If we are looking to be competitive in the market place, this would be a significant challenge. Minister Raitt also spoke of the rail disaster in Lac Megantic and what the federal government was doing to ensure better safety for rail traffic and also spent time on the need and Importance of moving goods to market making sure that roads and communities are kept safe. I also attended a forum with the Standing Committee for Community Safety and Crime Prevention looking at the economics of policing. The cost of policing in Canada is about $12.3 Billion with 60% of the costs covered by municipalities. What was staggering was that it was estimated that for some municipalities, policing costs were up to 50% of their annual budget. Clearly, if there are policy changes, there needs to be a review of the funding formula for municipalities. We also heard on the initiatives Corrections Service Canada is working on in building relationships and community corrections. There was lots of opportunity to network with other councillors from across the country and listening to how they have addressed problems in their communities and learning about insightful opportunities. The trade show was also an opportunity to see what was available out there and not surprising I would suggest nearly half the participants of the trade show were offering options around environmental sustainability.
Posted on: Thu, 05 Jun 2014 03:00:29 +0000
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