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Thank you for your support of PNWER!
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Happy New Year! It was an excellent year here at the Pacific Northwest Economic Region. As we hurry into 2016, we wanted to reflect back on the accomplishments of the year before we release our Annual Report.
Thank you for your support in 2015, and we look forward to working with you in 2016!
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| | Sen. Curt McKenzie, Idaho, accepted the PNWER presidency from Hon. David Ramsay, Northwest Territories, at PNWER's Annual Summit in Big Sky. |
For PNWER's Silver Anniversary, our 25th Annual Summit brought together 533 elected
members of government and senior staff, leaders in private industry and visionaries from academia and the non-profit sector to Big Sky, Montana, to discuss and work to solve regional challenges.
Summit delegates discussed a variety of pertinent topics throughout 19 working group sessions, touching on issues of energy development and environmental stewardship; transportation; infrastructure finance; regional defense against invasive species, border issues, and other economic concerns.
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Yellowknife, Northwest Territories
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Challenges and best practices in Arctic governance were addressed by (from left) Consul General Lynne Platt, U.S. Consulate Vancouver; Rep. Bob Herron, Alaska; PNWER Arctic Caucus Chair, Martin Goldney, Deputy Minister, Aboriginal Affairs & Intergovernmental Relations, Northwest Territories and Drue Pearce, Senior Policy Advisor, Crowell & Moring LLP.
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PNWER's Winter Meeting, the first held in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, featured our semi-annual Legislative Leadership Academy and annual Economic Leadership Forum.
The Legislative Leadership Academy, held Nov. 15-16, improved legislators' knowledge of differences between U.S. and Canadian government systems and helped legislators develop important relationships with their colleagues in neighboring jurisdictions across the border. Attendees also toured the Northwest Territories' Legislative Assembly Building and learned about consensus government in the territory.
The Economic Leadership Forum, held Nov. 16-17, allowed public and private stakeholders to carry out in-depth discussions on key subjects affecting our regional economy. Session topics included Arctic governance, Aboriginal economic development, market access and Arctic transportation systems, energy development in the North and energy-efficient buildings, and mining.
See presentations from the meeting |
Mark your calendars for PNWER's upcoming Summit in Calgary, Alberta. The first day of the Summit coincides with the last day of the famous Calgary Stampede, July 8-17, so plan your trip accordingly! |
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Federal budget allocates $4 million to prevention of invasive mussels in Pacific Northwest -- Efforts within the Pacific Northwest to defend against invasive quagga and zebra mussels were given a major boost December 18, as congress appropriated $4 million within the federal omnibus budget for watercraft inspection stations in Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Montana. The federal funds, administered by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, will require a one-to-one funding match with the states. Securing funding for a perimeter defense has been a major focus of PNWER and its partners. Read the press release here.
- Mandatory Country of Origin Labeling (COOL) for red meat repealed -- In 2015, congress voted to repeal mandatory Country of Origin Labeling (COOL) for packages of red meat, resolving a years-long priority and action item of PNWER's Agriculture Working Group and Delegate Council. Mandatory Country of Origin Labeling was ruled an unfair trade practice multiple times by the World Trade Organization. The repeal removes the threat of $1.1 billion in retaliatory tarrifs in Canada and Mexico on U.S. goods and improves efficiencies in Canada-U.S. trade in the meat packing industry.
- Cybersecurity meetings improve the region's readiness -- Our work developing partnerships for information sharing throughout the region brought us to three states in 2015. In Spring we hosted the Emerald Down IV: Puget Sound Cybersecurity Workshop with the support of the King County Office of Emergency Management. More than 260 attended the workshop. We brought cybersecurity as an emergency management concern to the Annual Summit in Big Sky, Montana, where panelists addressed the life safety risks from cyber attacks. And in the fall, PNWER and the Idaho Bureau of Homeland Security held the Idaho Cybersecurity Interdependencies Workshop for more than 130 public and private sector stakeholders in Boise.
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37 Legislators from U.S., Canada graduate from Legislative Energy Horizon Institute -- Thirty-seven state and provincial legislators from the U.S. and Canada and four non-legislative attendees graduated from the Legislative Energy Horizon Institute (LEHI) on October 8. The certificate program in energy policy provides an extensive overview of the North American energy system, from operating energy systems to building and financing infrastructure to regulation methods and market impacts. Since the program's inception in 2009, 160 legislators from the U.S. and Canada, along with seven non-legislative attendees, have received accreditation and graduated. Read the press release here.
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PNWER hosted the Fourth Annual North American Arctic Leaders Forum on March 5 in the Russell Senate Office Building in an appropriately snow-covered Washington D.C. The forum included the entire Alaska congressional delegation, key representatives from the State of Alaska, the Northwest Territories, Alberta, U.S. and Canadian federal leadership, Alaska Natives and private sector stakeholders. It was an opportunity for participants to highlight areas in which the U.S. and Canada already coordinate successfully and to share how the arctic is becoming an increasingly vital region. Read the press release here.
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Highlights of media coverage of PNWER activities and programs in 2015
Yereth Rosen, Alaska Dispatch News
March 4, 2015
John Cairns, Battlefords News-Optimist
- Colin Robertson, senior advisor, Dentons, LLP, in comments to the House of Commons Standing Committeeon Foreign Affairs and International Development
May 26, 2015
Northeastern University Center for Resiliency Studies; Bolstering Critical Infrastructure Resilience After Superstorm Sandy: Lessons for New York and the Nation
April, 2015.
KBZK Bozeman
July 13, 2015
Troy Carter, Bozeman Daily Chronicle
July 13, 2015
Brooke Boone, KBZK Bozeman
July 14, 2015
Op-ed by Ambassador Bruce Heyman, U.S. Ambassador to Canada, Globe and Mail
July 17, 2015
Tyler Allen, Explore Big Sky
July 24, 2015
Karen Ho, The Yellowknifer
November 18, 2015
Joël Plouffe and Heather Exner-Pirot, iPolitics
December 16, 2015
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2017 PNWER Summit Site Chosen: Portland!
At the PNWER Executive Committee meeting, held November 17 in Yellowknife, the Executive Committee accepted an enthusiastic bid from Oregon's to host the 2017 PNWER Summit in Portland. Congratulations!
We look forward to working with public and private stakeholders in Oregon and Portland to organize a fantastic, productive meeting in July, 2017.
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Partner Event: GLOBE 2016
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The Leadership Summit for Sustainable Business
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GLOBE 2016 is the next GLOBE event within the iconic GLOBE Series, North America's largest and longest-running Conference and Exposition series dedicated to business innovation for the planet. A world-leading sustainability GLOBE Conference coupled with an exciting GLOBE Innovation Exposition, GLOBE™ is about relationship building to fuel your business. It's about thinking outside the box. It's where leaders come to devise winning strategies to conserve resources, ignite innovation, and develop ideas and partnerships that help them be more resilient, more efficient, and reduce risk.
Please take a few moments to click on the following links to access detailed information.
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For more information please contact:
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Connect with PNWER on social media! Follow for moments and takeaways from the Winter Meeting!
Share your excitement, experiences and insight with us!
 Follow PNWER on Twitter @PNWER Follow us and see PNWER photos on Flickr |
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ABOUT PNWER
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The Pacific NorthWest Economic Region (PNWER) was created in 1991 by the states of Alaska, Idaho, Oregon, Montana, Washington, and the Canadian provinces of British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, and the Yukon and Northwest Territories.
It is a statutory public/private non-profit dedicated to increasing the economic well-being and quality of life for all citizens of the region, while maintaining and enhancing our natural environment.
Our overarching goals are to:
- Coordinate provincial and state policies throughout the region
- Identify and promote "models of success"
- Serve as a conduit to exchange information.
- Promote greater regional collaboration
- Enhance the competitiveness of the region in both domestic and international markets
- Leverage regional influence in Ottawa and Washington D.C.
- Achieve continued economic growth while maintaining the region's natural environment
We will be heading to Calgary for our 2016 Summit on July 17-21, right after the famous Calgary Stampede, to confront the biggest regional challenges to trade, economic growth, industry, employment and the environment. PNWER's 21 working groups develop yearly action items at our Summits to continually advance policy initiatives with public and private stakeholders.
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Thank you to our 2015 Sponsors
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