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Mayor meets ministers regarding recovery

On July 16, Mayor Linda Bruce met with Stockwell Day, president of the Treasury Board and Minister for the Asia-Pacific Gateway, and Jim Prentice, Minister of the Environment, to share ideas about Canada’s economic future.

On July 16, Mayor Linda Bruce met with Stockwell Day, president of the Treasury Board and Minister for the Asia-Pacific Gateway, and Jim Prentice, Minister of the Environment, to share ideas about Canada’s economic future.

The roundtable included Calgary municipal officials, business leaders and academics in a discussion about deficit reduction and keeping Canada on the path to strong economic recovery.

“I was there to get the word out for the smaller communities in the CRP because Calgary was already well represented, ” said Bruce chair of the Calgary Regional Partnership (CRP).

“The focus of the discussion was around what role everyone has to play to return the country and our areas to prosperity.”

Bruce met with the ministers and 12 other dignitaries including George Brookman, chairman of Tourism Calgary; Dr. Elizabeth Cannon, president of the University of Calgary; Dr. Roger Gibbins, president and CEO of Canada West Foundation and Diane Scott, president of the Calgary Real Estate Board.

Bruce said the bulk of the discussion concerned making it easier for businesses to do business.

“My focus as the representative for small communities was on home-based businesses,” she said.

“I would like to see incubators to help home-based businesses expand to storefront businesses. It is amazing how many innovative things come out of the basements of homes, think of Bill Gates for instance.”

Bruce said she felt the meeting was very productive.

“It’s always good for the federal government to come into the region to connect with local realities,” she said.

“It wasn’t just words scratched on paper never to be seen again. I think they went away with some good ideas that I hope will be put into action.”

She said she respects Day, who has been of great value to the Calgary region.

“This was a very productive roundtable meeting with some of Calgary’s leading citizens and experts,” said Day.

“The global recovery remains fragile and hearing from these bright minds on how we can keep those jobs coming, tackle the deficit and rein in government spending was very useful.”

Another topic brought up at the meeting was immigration and how slow government processes and inefficient transit are hindering the temporary foreign worker program.

“The federal government has a large role to play in transit,” said Bruce.

“A temporary foreign worker is here for two years and they are trying to send money back to their family. The last thing they need is to learn how to drive, buy a vehicle and pay for insurance. Transit is a huge issue for economic development and I think (the ministers) heard that.”

Bruce said she also hopes any move the federal government makes to strengthen the economy will take the diversity for the region into consideration “because one size does not fit all.”


Airdrie Today Staff

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