South East Queensland Mayors strengthen ties with Metro Vancouver

Exchange of international best practice will help to shape South East Queensland’s future with the Mayors formalising a strategic partnership to strengthen collaboration and cooperation with North American sustainability powerhouse Metro Vancouver.

Exchange of international best practice will help to shape South East Queensland’s future with the Mayors formalising a strategic partnership to strengthen collaboration and cooperation with North American sustainability powerhouse Metro Vancouver Regional District, British Columbia, Canada.

Council of Mayors (SEQ) Chair, Brisbane Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner said the partnership, formalised through the signing of a statement of intent during the current North America Mission, will strengthen social and economic engagement between the regions which had been working together since 2017.

“Building this partnership will support the South East as it looks to leverage Olympic and Paralympic legacy opportunities, and respond to key challenges such as growth, housing and affordability and the rollout of Food Organic and Garden Organics (FOGO) waste,” Cr Schrinner said.

“We’re keen to explore how Metro Vancouver is addressing population growth, housing and affordability, and opportunities to apply these approaches back in South East Queensland.

“Our regions share plenty in common, and it’s been interesting to learn how councils across Metro Vancouver are working collaboratively at a regional level across areas like housing, climate adaptation and mass transport.”

“Metro Vancouver embraces collaboration and innovation in providing world-class, affordable services to our residents, and we recognize the value of exchanging knowledge with colleagues from abroad,” said George V. Harvie, chair of the Metro Vancouver Board of Directors.

Cr Schrinner said Vancouver was a Winter Olympic Host with a reputation for successfully leveraging the 2010 Games to position itself as a global brand for tourism, liveability and foreign direct investment.

“That’s exactly what Brisbane 2032 can achieve for our region,” Cr Schrinner said.

“This partnership will allow us to continue to explore opportunities for trade and investment between our regions which could generate new local jobs and employment into the future.”

Council of Mayors (SEQ) Deputy Chair, Paul Antonio said there was plenty to learn to support South East Queensland’s transition to a waste-friendly region by 2030.

“Metro Vancouver is well advanced on their journey towards a circular economy, with one of North America’s highest recycling rates of 65%,” Mayor Antonio said.

In 2021, their green bins have diverted approximately 400,000 tonnes of yard trimmings and food waste from landfill, significantly reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

“As our region prepares to implement the SEQ Waste Management Plan and roll out new initiatives like food waste collection, we’re keen to better understand their experiences.

“What solutions they have chosen, how their community has embraced these initiatives, what has worked and what hasn’t.”

Mayor Antonio said Vancouver had used the 2010 games to advance a number of critical transport projects which now help to support over 1 million daily commuters across their public transport network.

“We’re keen to understand the benefits the Games has provided the Canadian metro region before, during and after, and how their civic leaders and communities have worked together to make this happen,” he said.

Both organisations represent regions with similar characteristics; the most populous areas within their province/state, growing populations and becoming increasingly influential regionally and internationally, embarking on a transition towards a more specialised and diversified economy, and participation in global flows and exchanges enabled by a new international context.

The respective regions face ongoing challenges associated with climate change and population growth, at a time when the jobs that are driving our economy are changing, with new technologies, globalisation and demographic change transforming the future of work and the talent and skills of our workforce.

Read the Statement of Intent for Ongoing Collaboration and Cooperation between Metro Vancouver Regional District and Council of Mayors (SEQ)

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