Give your input on the PNWER 2010 Annual Summit by taking our pre-summit survey
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Join us for the 20th Annual Summit in Calgary, Alberta
Summit Hotel Accommodation Early
bird special ends April 30thSponsors receive complimentary
registrations!Learn more:
http://www.pnwer.org/sponsorships The Hyatt Regency Calgary700 Centre
Street, SECalgary, AB T2G 5PG For Reservations:
1-888-421-1442or online at www.pnwer.org/2010annualsummit Mention "PNWER
Annual Summit" to receive the group rate! Due to the Calgary Stampede, rooms may fill
quickly so please book early
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Since 1912, the Calgary
Stampede has
been called the greatest outdoor show on earth. Don't miss your chance
to experience the world's largest outdoor rodeo, as well as the festival
and exhibitions.
Attend the Calgary Stampede on Saturday or
Sunday afternoon (July 17-18), following the half-day Summit working
group sessions. The Summit agenda will end with a keynote luncheon from
12-1pm, just in time for participants and their families to head to the
Stampede starting at 1:30pm. It is the final stampede weekend, an event
you will not want to miss!
To purchase tickets, or learn more
about PNWER activities at the Stampede, visit our website.
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About PNWER
The
Pacific NorthWest Economic Region (PNWER)
is the premier non-partisan organization to bring together policy
makers, non-profits and business leaders to support the development of
our regional economy.
PNWER is recognized by both the United
States and Canada as the "model" for regional and bi-national
cooperation because of its proven success.
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The Pacific NorthWest Economic Region (PNWER) is in the
process of preparing for its 2010 Annual Summit in Calgary, Alberta this
coming July. In order to begin our planning of relevant and timely
topics for our working groups, we are asking for feedback from PNWER
Stakeholders and past Summit participants to play a role in the
development of this upcoming summit's agenda.
Please take the time to fill out this Survey by
March 31st, and let us know how you would like to be involved and what
topics you would like to see on the agenda. The information from this
survey will be shared with the co-chairs of our various working groups,
and will be given strong consideration in our planning.
We are also asking questions regarding our
communications with you. We welcome your input as we work to improve
our organization for you. This survey should only take between 5-7
minutes and only answer those questions that you would like.
Thank you very much for your input, and for your
leadership in the region!
Sincerely,
Sen.
Lesil McGuire, PNWER President
Matt Morrison,
PNWER Executive Director
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PNWER at the Olympics
Alaska, Northwest region hoping to pull tourism from Games
By John Carpenter
KTUU.com
February 22,
2010
VANCOUVER, British Columbia -- Alaska was well-represented off the
field of play as well Monday.
The state is part of the Pacific NorthWest Economic Region. The group
met in Vancouver this week trying to turn Olympic gold into real gold
in the form of tourism and resource development.
Anchorage Sen. Lesil McGuire is the president of PNWER and sees the
Olympics as an opportunity to introduce the world to the 49th state.
"When you look around how many people are here on the earth watching
or participating in the Olympics, what better chance than to highlight
Alaska and hope that people will take an interest," McGuire said.
Read Full Article
Tourism Day in Vancouver
By Eric Granstrom
The Wenatchee World
February 23, 2010
So what impact will the Olympic Games being in Vancouver have on
Washington State and North Central Washington? That's the million
dollar question. And for tourism and business leaders in Washington
State, they hope its a million dollar answer.
The Pacific Northwest Economic Region, an initiative created to share
economic and tourism wealth between the states, provinces and
territories that make up the area, hosted a reception Monday in
Vancouver. Invitees included tourism officials from Washington, Oregon,
Idaho and Alaska. Hosted by B.C. Tourism and Tourism Vancouver, the
aim was to highlight the regional tourism opportunities created by the
Olympic spotlight on Vancouver.
Marsha Massey, Director of Washington State Tourism, says she thinks
Washington will definitely benefit in the years to come following the
Winter Olympics. "I think the halo effect is really going to reach out
into Washington, certainly as the nearest state, but also to the rest of
the Pacific Northwest region," she said. Massey said, "...they're going
to discover what a fantastic corner of the world we live in and once
they do that, it's natural that they might come into Vancouver but
discover how easy it is to get down to Washington. I think we all
benefit."
Read Full Article
Videos about the Tourism Event:
Video of Senator Lesil McGuire's Introduction
KGW (Portland, Oregon) Coverage of the event
Another gold - this one for the premiers
By Colin Robertson
The Globe and Mail
March 5, 2010
Excerpt: Take the recently negotiated agreement on government procurement. At
Council of the Federation meetings in Regina last August, the premiers
proposed a reciprocity agreement with the states. In Washington,
governors and premiers began working out the practical applications.
Each of them understands the need to get more bang for their buck in an
era of restraint.
All the while, they worked their case at what are now regular,
regional meetings. The most vigorous of the regional associations is the
Pacific Northwest Economic Region (PNWER). Driven by legislators in
Alaska, Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana and Yukon, Northwest
Territories, British Columbia, Alberta and now Saskatchewan, its success
is based on finding practical solutions to real problems. Sustained by a
permanent secretariat based in Seattle, its agenda is focused on
results and it brings to the table the executive, legislators, business,
labour and civil society.
Anticipating Olympic headaches at the border, Washington Governor
Christine Gregoire and B.C.'s Gordon Campbell came up with the idea of
the smart drivers' licence as an alternative to the passport at the land
border. PNWER ran with it and convinced Homeland Security to regulate
the change. Smart drivers' licences are now being rolled out by other
provinces and border states.
Read Full Article
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Alaska
Legislators hear plans for alternative energy
With a gas pipeline still a dream, wind,
hydro, volcano possible.
By Richard Maur
Anchorage Daily News
March 15th, 2010
JUNEAU -- With some legislators fuming over the pace of in-state gas
development and broadly supporting energy diversification, a special
House committee summoned the promoters of six large Railbelt projects
last week to explain themselves and whether they should be subsidized
with public funds.
One of the projects -- a wind farm already under construction by
Cook Inlet Region Inc. on Fire Island -- is poised to change Anchorage's
view to the west and the approach to the city's international airport.
The Anchorage Native corporation, owner of the island, plans to prepare
sites for 36 wind turbines this summer and have the project in operation
by the end of 2011.
Read Full Article
Secretary Salazar Announces University of Alaska as Host of Nation's
First Regional Climate Science Center
U.S. Department of the Interior Press Release
March 4, 2010
Washington D.C. - Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar
announced today that the Department of the Interior has selected the
University of Alaska as the first of eight planned regional Climate
Science Centers in the nation.
"With rapidly melting Arctic-sea ice and permafrost, and threats to the
survival of Native Alaskan coastal communities, Alaska is ground zero
for climate change," said Secretary Salazar. "We must put science to
work to help us adjust to the impacts of climate change on Alaska's
resources and peoples."
In addition to the Alaska region, Climate Science Centers will be
selected in seven additional regions throughout the country as directed
by a 2009 Secretarial Order on climate change.
Read Full Article
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Alberta
Incentives could spur Alberta drilling, create
jobs
Analysts
doubt benefits for shale gas play
By Shaun Polczer The Montreal Gazette
March 12, 2010
CALGARY - The Alberta government's competitiveness review will spur
drilling activity and create jobs in the province, but analysts are
unsure if measures designed to spur innovation will close the gap with
unconventional shale gas in British Columbia and the U.S.
Government
officials said one aim of Thursday's announcement is to encourage
innovation and technology as a way of increasing production and
reserves, especially in relation to unconventional natural gas
development that relies on complicated drilling techniques to unlock the
resource.
According to government technical documents, the
province is hoping to increase oilpatch jobs by 8,000 in 2011-12 and
then add 13,000 more annually across the economy by putting
unconventional drilling on an equal footing with other provinces and
parts of the United States, where shale gas has helped reverse steep
production declines in recent years.
Olympics bring long-term economic benefits to AlbertaCTV Edmonton
March 2, 2010
The province says Albertans will see lasting benefits from the
promotion it conducted at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver.
"We had a goal to be better than everybody else, to be bold, to be
innovative, to be proud and respectful and open and welcoming and I
think we accomplished all of those things," said Alberta's Minister of
Culture and Community Spirit Lindsay Blackett. Read Full Article
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British Columbia
VANCOUVER
- British Columbia's green economy could grow into a
$27-billion-per-year green giant by 2020 according to a new report from
the Globe Foundation.
"There is great potential for B.C. to
be at the forefront of the emerging green economy by taking advantage
of our existing assets such as our renewable energy resources and our
diverse work force," Globe president and CEO John Wiebe said Wednesday
in a news release from the Vancouver-based foundation.
B.C.'s
present green sector economy, encompassing 28 sub-sectors including
renewable energy, forestry, transit and telecommunications, accounted
for 10.2 per cent of GDP in 2008 - $15.3 billion in direct and indirect
GDP, the report said.
Read Full Article
Alberta, B.C. to co-host World Cup bobsled and
skeleton events
By Colette Derworiz
Calgary Herald
March 17, 2010
Alberta and British Columbia will co-host two World Cup bobsled and
skeleton events this year, thanks to an agreement between the two
governments.
"Our world-class facilities, officials and
technicians give us an edge in attracting international competitions and
visitors to Western Canada," Cindy Ady, Alberta Minister of Tourism,
Parks and Recreation, said in a news release. "These world cup events
are great news for sport and for tourism in both provinces."
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Idaho
War on invasive species toils on
By Nate Poppino
Times-News
Friday, March 5, 2010
Idaho expanded its attempts to battle invasive species in 2009
while maintaining the fight against old foes, according to a
recently released annual report.
The 41-page report details the state's attempts to trap, monitor
and deflect a range of marauding insects, plants and other
creatures.
Aquatic stowaways such as the quagga and zebra mussels have
gotten the most public attention in recent years as the state put
together a program to screen for them. Funded by more than $776,000
from mandatory registration stickers, ISDA employees in 2009
conducted educational work, prioritized water bodies to monitor for
the tiny mussels and ran 18 boat-inspection stations across the
state from July 4 through Labor Day.
Read Full Article
Corder's poultry bill passes Senate committee
By Ben Botkin
Times-News
March 17, 2010
BOISE - Poultry operations are expected to grow in Idaho.
No one knows how much they'll grow yet, but Sen. Tim Corder,
R-Mountain Home and the chairman of the Senate Agricultural Affairs
Committee, wants the state to be ready.
The committee heard Corder's 40-page bill on Tuesday, which
would remove poultry and swine regulation from the Department of
Environmental Quality and put it under the authority of the Idaho
State Department of Agriculture.
The bill - one of two Corder proposals that would impact Idaho
poultry operations - also puts a variety of requirements in place
for poultry operation sites and permits, and groups operations into
categories by size.
The bill comes as California has tightened its regulations on
confined-animal feedlot operations amid criticism from animal
welfare advocates.
"As we go forward in these times, we find more and more groups
that are critical of the state's management of water quality and
air quality, and we want to provide some assurances that we're
serious about that as a state and not only that, but the industry's
serious," Corder said at Tuesday's hearing, where the committee
voted unanimously to send the bill to the Senate for further
deliberation.
Read Full Article
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Montana
'There's nothing here'; Odd slogan
highlights Montana's allure as a vacation destinationBy Jolene Keller Lone Peak Lookout March 17, 2010 Busy, crowded streets echo with the sounds of traffic
and chaos. Commuters wait for their ride, engulfed in the sounds of the
city. Then, a breath of fresh air they're greeted by a bus unlike
any they've ever seen before. It's completely wrapped in the iconic
vista of Glacier National Park. For a moment, their minds are far from
the gridlock, imagining what it would be like to be taking in that view
in person. This is just one of the
strategies the Montana Office of Tourism uses to attract visitors to Big
Sky country. Business owners,
managers, Chamber members, and interested local residents attended a
meeting put on by the Montana Office of Tourism on Wednesday at the
First Security Bank to discuss the ways Big Sky fits into the Montana
brand. Read Full Article
Bozeman-based company plans wind power 'smart grid'
By Linda Halstead-Acharya Billings Gazette March 14, 2010 BOZEMAN - Carl Borgquist's vision started with a whiteboard and
a marker in his hands.
Five years later, the president of the Bozeman-based Grasslands
Renewable Energy still flourishes a marker and sketches on the
whiteboard to illustrate his plan for wind power in the Northern
Plains.
Borgquist doesn't build wind farms, rather he's got a plan for
collecting and transmitting wind power. Ultimately, he hopes to
gather enough wind-generated electricity to equal the output of
Hoover Dam, or two coal-fired power plants at Colstrip.
Borgquist refers to Grassland's Wind Spirit Project as part of
the theorized "smart grid." What makes it "smart" is that it could
solve the inherent problem of wind's variability. Read Full Article
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Northwest Territories
Mackenzie project gets energy board conditions
CBC NEWS
March 11, 2010
The
National Energy Board has issued draft conditions for its approval of
the proposed Mackenzie Valley natural gas pipeline in the Northwest
Territories.
This week, the federal regulatory board released 67 pages of proposed
conditions to the consortium of pipeline proponents, led by Imperial
Oil, which could come into effect if the board approves gas wells and a
1,200-kilometre pipeline to be built from the N.W.T.'s Mackenzie Delta.
Read Full Article
Government Of Canada Invests In The
Economic Development Of Northwest Territories
Canada's Economic Action Plan invests in the North
CanNor Press Release
March 1, 2010
YELLOWKNIFE - The Honourable Chuck
Strahl, Minister of the Canadian Northern Economic Development Agency
announced today an Economic Action Plan investment of $225,000 to
attract French-speaking people and businesses to the Northwest
Territories.
The Canadian Northern Economic Development Agency (CanNor) will
support a series of initiatives, including the development of a
marketing strategy to promote the territory in French-speaking areas of
Canada and Europe as a desirable place to live, work, visit, and
invest.
"Our Government is committed to strengthening the economy of the NWT,"
said Minister Strahl who is Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern
Development and Federal Interlocutor for Métis and Non-Status Indians
"Attracting more French-speakers and investers to the North will support
economic and cultural diversity, enhance the labour pool, and benefit NWT
businesses and residents."
Read Full Article
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Oregon
Gov. Ted Kulongoski, Oregon veterans head to
Paralympic Games
By Julie Sullivan
The Oregonian
March 11, 2010
Gov. Ted Kulongoski skipped
the 2010 Olympic Games. He chose instead to spend six hours on a bus to
Vancouver, B.C., Thursday with nearly 60 Oregonians you've never heard
of. Destination: the 2010 Paralympic Games.
In a pattern that has
persisted since he took office,
Kulongoski turned one of the world's most storied sporting events into
an opportunity for military veterans. After pushing to get more vets
into college, into home loans and into jobs, his staff raised more than
$100,000 in private money to send 30 vets (each with a guest) to the
Games for elite athletes with physical and visual disabilities.
Then,
the Governor, wearing blue jeans, black fleece and a donated yellow
jacket, climbed on the bus, too...
Read Full Article
Oregon exporters lobby Obama to reduce trade barriers By Richard Read
The Oregonian
March 15, 2010
An obscure European tariff designed to protect a Scandinavian fishing
industry that no longer exists costs the West Coast about 1,000 jobs,
Oregon seafood dealers say.
The European Union's 20 percent
duty on cooked, peeled shrimp is one of numerous trade barriers cited by
Northwest companies as the Obama administration aims to double U.S.
exports within five years.
Oregon exporters say they encounter
shipping-container shortages, tight credit, border delays, inconsistent
regulations, trade-promotion glitches and travel-visa problems. It's a
wonder that the state rang up almost $15 billion in foreign sales last
year -- close to 9 percent of Oregon's gross domestic product.
Charles
Kirschbaum, Pacific Seafood Group cold-water shrimp-sales manager, told
members of the U.S. International Trade Commission last week that the
Clackamas company could help achieve the administration's goal if Europe
would open the floodgates to West Coast shrimp.
"We could make a
dent," Kirschbaum said during a break from a commission hearing in
Portland last week. "Just even out the playing field for us, and we'd be
off and running."
Read Full Article
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Saskatchewan
REGINA
- Saskatchewan's wholesale trade jumped 18.4 per cent to $1.58 billion
in January - the largest percentage gain in Canada and the strongest
increase in the province in 17 years, Statistics Canada said Wednesday.
By
contrast, wholesale trade across Canada increased an average of three
per cent over December, the StatsCan report said.
The double-digit
growth, the biggest increase in Saskatchewan since July 1993, was
attributed largely to rising sales of agricultural supplies, like
chemicals and fertilizers.
"This may be a good sign for the potash
industry as it appears to be on the road to recovering from previous
setbacks,'' Enterprise Saskatchewan Minister Ken Cheveldayoff said in a
press release.
Read Full Article
High hopes for Sask. tourism after Olympics
CBC News
March 7, 2010
Tourism officials in Saskatchewan hope a multimillion-dollar display
of the province's attractions at the recent Winter Olympics in Vancouver
will lead to an influx of tourism dollars at home.
The provincial pavilion at the Games featured a giant projection
sphere, along with a separate building to showcase performers like the
hip-hop group Def 3, Broadway performer Kyle Riabko and country singer
Brad Johner.
The sphere was six storeys high and had projectors built in to
display images and video of the province. BC Event Management was the
company contracted to build the pavilion.
More than 100,000 people turned up over the two weeks that the
$4.1-million attraction was open during the Olympics - about 7,500 a
day, according to Tourism Saskatchewan's marketing manager.
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Washington
Wash. Legislature OKs server farm tax exemption
By Curt Wooward
The Associated Press
March 18, 2010
OLYMPIA, Wash.--Giving a boost to eastern Washington, state lawmakers on
Wednesday passed a temporary sales-tax break for companies that build
and operate server farms in rural areas.
The sales and use tax exemption, which would take effect in April
and last until 2018, applies to server equipment, software and electric
infrastructure at eligible computer data centers in rural areas.
The measure was approved on a 91-2 vote in the state House and
heads to Gov. Chris Gregoire for final adoption.
Supporters said the tax exemption will help Washington compete
for construction of server farms, the massive, computer-filled buildings
that tech companies use to handle data storage and Internet traffic for
e-mail, instant messaging and other products.
Read Full Article
Tiny snails are a big problem for Olympia lake
By Roberta Romero
KING 5 News
February
28, 2010
OLYMPIA, Wash. - They're called the "New Zealand Mud Snails" and they
are no bigger than a grain of rice. But the small species is
threatening to take over a popular lake in Western Washington.
The snails first showed up in Olympia's Capitol Lake in 2009. Since
then, they have taken over by the thousands.
"About 90 percent of the snails are female and they clone themselves.
At one time there were about 20,000 snails for every square foot here
at the lake," said Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife agent
Allen Pleus.
Read Full Article
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Yukon
Team Yukon finishes Arctic Winter Games with 101 medals
Team Yukon ended the Arctic Winter Games in a
comfortable fourth place position in the medal standingsBy Annalee Grant Whitehorse Daily Star March 15, 2010 Team Yukon ended the Arctic Winter Games in a comfortable fourth
place position in the medal standings, after an impressive display of
Yukon athletic talent.
The team had a medal in almost every sport at the games, with several
athletes taking home a collection of gold, silver or bronze ulus.
Yukon had multiple medals in snowshoeing, where they scored six gold,
four silver, and four bronze ulus.
The athletes also collected multiple gold medals in Arctic Sports,
cross country skiing, figure skating and dog mushing. Read Full ArticleYukon promoted at mining industry gathering
Yukoners are promoting the territory's
investment opportunities and mineral potential with the world's mineral
industry at the 2010 Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada
(PDAC) annual conference in Toronto.
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