I hear the visit to Surrey by former U.S. presidents George Bush and Bill Clinton was a great event. The media weren?t allowed in, but that?s what people who were there told me. I did read coverage in the Surrey paper rating the presidents on their jokes, self-deprecating humour and one-upmanship.
But seriously, how does the so-called Surrey Regional Economic Summit help the regional economy in any way other than stimulating TransLink revenue from protesters riding the SkyTrain out from Vancouver? The official answer: the past presidents? ?perspectives on the new realities facing the United States and the world?s major economies will be invaluable,? says summit co-chair and Surrey Councillor Linda Hepner, a former economic development director for Surrey. Invaluable for what?
The brand, it seems.
?The Surrey Summit has become a big part of our city?s brand as we work to attract jobs, investment and business opportunities to Surrey and the region,? says Mayor Dianne Watts.
How an economic summit that shuts out the media can be an effective branding exercise is a question only people in Surrey can answer.
But let?s get back to the regional economy. What exactly is happening with regional economic development? Actually, nothing. The last big effort on that front was for the Olympics, when the Vancouver Economic Commission spent a year and a half rounding up CEOs from targeted industries for a $1.5 million ?invest here? visitation program. Eight of the 22 local municipalities bought in, under the banner of Metro Vancouver Commerce, with Western Economic Diversification coming up with almost half the funds.
Vancouver contributed $400,000, with the other municipalities, including Surrey – contributing $20,000 each. According to a PWC audit of the program?s economic impact, it generated $160 million in direct investment in the region and more than twice that in indirect economic impact.
Metro Vancouver Commerce was an attempt to get municipalities together around economic development initiatives that promised enough benefits to attract their funding. It was the first success in regional economic co-operation in decades. Where is it today? Dead.
The website hasn?t been updated since February 2011. The address on the site is the former office of the Vancouver Economic Development Commission, and if you phone the toll-free number, you get a junior researcher at the Vancouver Economic Commission who promises to check into what Metro Vancouver Commerce is.
Meanwhile, Metro Vancouver CAO Johnny Carline is gamely phoning around looking for some municipality to pick up the regional economic development ball and run with it, now that the region has at least managed to preserve industrial lands. No takers, and it?s not part of Metro Vancouver?s mandate.
Even a plan for a regional economic lubricant as simple as a common business licence that works in every Metro municipality has been stillborn since 2007.
Municipal staff understand the need for a regional strategy, but can?t get any buy-in from politicians perennially wary of attracting tax revenues to a ?competing? municipality. So Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson flies off to Asia for Vancouver, Watts goes to India for Surrey, and regional economy limps along by default, not by design.
If Mayor Watts wanted to show true leadership, she?d step into the post-2010 vacuum left by Robertson and use her prodigious fundraising muscle to build some strength and purpose into Metro Vancouver Commerce. It will probably cost more than $20,000, but for the municipality soon to be the biggest in the region, already big enough to chew off two presidents in one bite, that really shouldn?t be a problem. ?
