1st Announcement: “The Public Infrastructure Dilemma: How will we sustain our water, our streets, and ourselves?”

Register now for the “Forum within the State of the Island Economic Summit” on October 18 at the Vancouver Island Conference Centre   

In exactly three weeks, the Vancouver Island Economic Alliance (VIEA) is hosting its 5^th Annual Summit. As part of the program, CAVI-Convening for Action on Vancouver Island is holding a “Forum within the Summit” on the afternoon of October 18^th. The Forum is designed for local government, and is co-hosted by VIEA’s Sustainability Committee. The Forum will be followed by an address from Premier Christy Clark.

“The Forum program is built around the ‘infrastructure liability’ theme. Each year, the funding shortfall grows. Fiscal constraints provide a driver for a change in the way local governments plan, finance, implement, and over time replace infrastructure. The Forum is relevant to all who are involved in land use planning, land development and municipal infrastructure,” states Derek Richmond, Manager of Engineering with the City of Courtenay. He is the CAVI Chair-Elect.

“Land use planning is the function that precedes the ‘form’ – engineering and implementation. We know that the time to shape future life-cycle costs is at the infrastructure planning front-end. Cooperative planning and engineering at the front end ensures the right deliverables. In the Comox Valley, we are striving within the existing governance framework to align and integrate our efforts at a watershed scale. On October 18^th, the Forum will showcase the Comox Valley experience in working towards the goal of Sustainable Service Delivery.” 

THE LINKING ISLAND LEADERS PROJECT: The Forum will also feature VIEA’s Linking Island Leaders Project. Initiated in 2009, the findings and recommendations were unveiled at the 2010 Summit. The Link Team found that a groundswell is building up and down the Island for regional collaboration. "Collaboration with CAVI creates an early opportunity for success in moving forward with the Linking Island Leaders Project," states Rick Roberts, VIEA Past-Chair. The following day he is moderating a session titled The Link Project - One Year Later.

TO REGISTER: The cost of registration is $75. To register for the “Forum within the Summit” via CivicInfo BC, click on this link: http://www.civicinfo.bc.ca/event/ForumwithintheSummit.asp

TO LEARN MORE: To access the Forum 'homepage' on the Water Bucket website and learn more about the Forum context and program design, click here. To download a document that explains the Forum structure and foreshadows what will be covered, click on Convening for Action Vision for the Forum within the Summit

News Release #2011-42

September 27, 2011