It’s always great to welcome guests to our community, and this week we welcomed four cabinet ministers, who made three large funding announcements in our city, including $80,000 to continue the good work of Communities that Care, a preventative long-term approach to building health communities.
Mary McNeil was so impressed with how our community has seen opportunity through crisis and is working so well collaboratively. Williams Lake is on the government’s radar for our reputation for working together and for innovation. We are often on the leading edge of new programs to improve services to residents. The city is always working to develop funding partnerships with the province, which is an example of raising revenue without relying on municipal taxes.
I also attended the positive and precedent-setting ceremony between the Williams Lake Indian Band and Mount Polley mine as they signed a participation agreement. Working together always produces benefits for all involved, and this agreement is a great template for the future. I’m particularly pleased that the agreement involves education, training, and employment. This is also an example of how industry, in this case, mining, can help build and strengthen communities. I want to recognize the leadership of Chief Ann Louie and her council and the leadership of Imperial Metals for making this historic event possible. Council has directed staff to start implementing the Business Expansion and Attraction Strategy Task Force recommendations, and one of those recommendations is to expand the mining service sector — attracting those businesses that serve mines. With Mount Polley, the Gibraltar expansion ongoing ($134 million in expenditures this year), and the possibility of New Prosperity and the Spanish Mountain mine, the mining service sector is and will continue to be integral to our economy.
And finally, I wanted to recognize our local businesses. I attended a fundraising auction last week that featured a number of big ticket items donated from local businesses, including a large TV and a signed Carey Price jersey. Time and time again, year after year, Williams Lake businesses show amazing generosity, which is just one more reason to support them.
Kerry Cook is the mayor of Williams Lake.