At a recent presentation to council, members of Bowen Island's Economic Development Advisory Committee (EDAC) learned that one of the committee's tasks should be to educate the public about what economic development means and what it could look like. Gordon Ganong, EDAC's chair, has acted on that suggestion and plans to invite a number of speakers to share their expertise.
The first presenter will be Gaetan Royer, Metro Vancouver's manager of Metropolitan Planning, Environment and Parks, who will speak at EDAC's next meeting on Tuesday, January 22, at 7:15 p.m. in council chambers at the municipal hall. "Gaetan [Royer] has a deep background in economic development and we invited him to talk with us about his experiences," Ganong said, explaining that Royer is an architect and planner originally from Quebec City. Royer served as base engineer at Canada's largest air base and peace-keeper in Bosnia and received the Governor General's Meritorious Service Medal for his humanitarian work in Sarajevo. Royer also worked as city manager in Port Moody, B.C., and the city received numerous awards including the International Livable Communities Award for Planning for the Future during his time there. Royer is also known as a passionate advocate for better quality urban living through his book, Time for Cities, and speaking engagements.
"Gaetan [Royer] is also key to the future of Bowen Island," Ganong said. "He looks after the land for Metro [Vancouver] that includes the heritage cottages."
The Tuesday evening event is open to the public and Ganong hopes that islanders will attend and find out more about EDAC's work. Royer's talk will be followed by a more formal part of the committee's meeting.
"We have already contacted other potential speakers," Ganong said. "We hope to have a number of people come and talk about economic development and plan to approach the subject from a wide variety of angles."
