Planning for Regional Growth Summit: Session 10 Notes

Opportunities and Issues

In our penultimate session we discussed some opportunities and issues for regional cooperation. Below is our brief list. Its brief because we spent time sharing our stories.

·         Opportunities

·         Development of regional water board

·         Share facilities to meet regional needs and avoid duplication

·         Regional need to be fulfilled from top and bottom

·         Regional recreation plan

·         Better service in outlying communities

·         Regional transportation planning

·         Infrastructure needs from a regional basis such as roads

·         Sharing infrastructure development hard and human capital development

·         Build a regional identity

·         Work together to identify growth opportunities

·         Focus as a region when asking the province for help

·         Use pilot projects to gain wins and momentum

·         Have a regional summit for West Central SK

·         Issues

·         Trust (almost everyone identified this as important) – need to address fear, perceptions, used mediator and facilitators, spend time getting to know one another)

·         Balance politics with long-term planning

·         Inter-jurisdictional issues

·         Need to align prov/fed money with regional plan objectives

·         Communication

·         Too afraid to talk/offend counterpart

·         Be open, leave ego at the door

·         Identify everyone’s needs

·         Agree on objectives and principles

·         Hold regular meetings regardless if you have anything to discuss