City delegation optimistic after meetings in Victoria
By Kyra Hoggan
Mayor Lawrence Chernoff, councillor Dan Rye and city manager John Malcolm returned to Castlegar optimistic after a full day of meetings with provincial ministers, ministerial staff and elected representatives May 9.
Rye said the trio met with, among others, Minister of Advanced Education Naomi Yamamoto, Minister of Jobs, Tourism and Innovation Pat Bell, opposition critic for Small Business, Technology and Economic Development Jenny Kwan and Health Ministry parliamentary secretary Moira Stilwell.
“I walked away feeling that we had made some headway,” Rye said. “Everyone seemed to be quite positive and willing to work with us. Nobody closed any doors on us. They listened and seemed interested in what we had to say.
“I think we opened some doors.”
Rye and Chernoff agree that the focus of most conversations was economic development, withspecific topics ranging from the airport to Sculpturewalk to e-waste management.
“The airport, for example – it’s a huge economic tool,” said Chernoff. “We need to make it as reliable as possible, and we talked about upgrading approaches and that kind of thing.
“We talked about getting an e-waste depot here – we don’t want this stuff going into our landfills.
“There are lots of areas (in which) we’re trying to problem-solve and put plans together around what we need to do to get where we want to go,” he said. “The idea was to open a dialogue. We also showcased the work we’ve already done through initiatives like Sculpturewalk and servicing the airport lands for development.
“I think it was a productive trip in terms of forwarding community goals.”
Comments