Sustainability was on the mind of Ontario’s lieutenant-governor while she visited Collingwood on Tuesday.
Lt.-Gov. Elizabeth Dowdeswell came to town this week, with a goal of discussing progress made in the municipality on economic and social issues.
“One of the things that’s important to a lieutenant-governor is to try to get a sense of who the people in the province are, because you represent them,” she said, in an interview with CollingwoodToday. “I like to actually be out in communities in a way where I can ask people what they’re very proud of. Why do they live where they do? What are their aspirations for the future, and what are they challenged by?”
“You learn on each of these visits what’s special,” she added.
During the lieutenant-governor's visit, she toured Agnora Glass’ facility, took a tour and had a round table discussion with representatives of Out of the Cold Collingwood’s emergency shelter program and participated in a round table discussion with Mayor Brian Saunderson on the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
This visit marked the lieutenant-governor's 85th official visit during her term.
“One of the things I learned during this visit to this community, is the extent of collaboration that’s already underway,” said the lieutenant-governor. “This is one of those communities that has a lot of richness to it. The geography and nature just attract people, but there’s also a great sense of legacy.”
“People here are thinking about how to create economic prosperity and meaningful jobs, but also tackle social issues like poverty and homelessness,” she said. “It was just a real privilege.”
“This is a community that’s really thinking about people,” she added.
The Lieutenant-Governor represents the Crown in Ontario, and exercises constitutional powers while promoting a strong and positive civic community.
During the public reception at the Collingwood Public Library, Mayor Brian Saunderson announced that as part of his work with the UN Sustainable Development Goals pilot project, Collingwood and The Blue Mountains will now be hosting UN conferences, which will see mayors and representatives from towns and cities across the world travel to the area annually for a conference to discuss sustainability.
The first conference is slated to take place from June 23 to 24.
“It’s about looking at successful recipes to maintain your smaller urban centres while (still) growing responsibly,” said Saunderson, adding that progress will be tracked and compared year over year. “It will be an ongoing experiment.”
