Canada goes green for gold

I recently ventured north to the winter wilderness of Canada and met another Harcourt.

Mike Harcourt, a former Mayor of Vancouver, and Premier of British Columbia (BC) was happy to meet me as he thought we may in fact be related. Harcourt’s grandfather was Australian and fled Melbourne in perhaps dubious circumstances, coming to Canada and populating Alberta and British Columbia with assorted offspring, one of which was Mike Harcourt’s father.

While disappointed that I could not shed more light on his exotic Australian ancestry, Harcourt did give me a fine account of his fiery political career in city and provincial politics. As well as fighting freeway development to save local neighbourhoods, Harcourt was active in Aboriginal issues and developing Vancouver as a business gateway to the Asia Pacific, to which he still has strong links to.

Harcourt told me that when a group of Canadian Mayor’s ‘divvied’ up Chinese cities for sister-city relationships, a rather pretentious Mayor of Montreal said, that as Montreal was Canada’s premier city it should be allowed first choice and he wanted Shanghai. Harcourt said: “Well, that suited me fine, as I wanted Guangzhou, as most of Vancouver’s Chinese community hailed from there and Hong Kong and were therefore Cantonese speaking.”

In fact, Harcourt got his start in local politics due to his ties with the Chinese community in Vancouver. “I was a lawyer defending poor folks in Gas Town and China Town (two lower socio-economic areas of Vancouver) and two young Chinese-Canadian women invited me to a meeting to stop a freeway being built through their neighbourhood (as occurred in neighbouring Seattle). At the end of the meeting, they said “Okay, you’re hired” and before I knew it I went from being a lawyer to being a community activist running their campaign. And one of them became my Chief of Staff when I later became Mayor.”

Harcourt’s reign as Mayor also led to other campaigns to make Vancouver an environmentally sustainable city, that saw its future as a gateway to the Asia-Pacific rather than an outpost of eastern Canada. This approach led to some high-wire political acts. For example, in the 1980s, Harcourt almost knocked back hosting the ’86 Expo (the 1986 World Exposition on Transportation and Communication), on the grounds that he didn’t think the benefits to Vancouver would justify the cost to the city’s coffers. The contract was negotiated on his election as Mayor of Vancouver and the rest is history.

A walk down to Canada Place on Vancouver’s waterfront is a lasting sign of the legacy that the Expo left to Vancouver. Now Harcourt, in his post-political life, is on a new mission. He is adamant that Vancouver, as a liveable and environmentally sustainable city, leverages the 2010 Winter Olympics wisely for its long-term benefit, both economically and in terms of the environment and its unique quality of life. He also wants Vancouver to work harder at its ties with the Asia Pacific – including Australia – and to use the 2010 Olympics to do so.

So what is happening? Well, Vancouver is gearing up and Whistler is too. In fact, when this ‘airport economist’ was walking around Vancouver it felt like the build-up to the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, although on a more low-key, quieter, politer, much more Canadian scale. (Canadians must be the nicest and most polite people on the planet!). The venues are almost ready. For example, Richmond Oval where the speed skating will be held is a site to see. The Oval has been set up on the principles of environmental sustainability (using timber from BC forests affected by the pine beetle – one consequence of global warming) and the Olympic Village has been installed with new technology in water and renewable energy – just like Australia did in Sydney in 2000 at the Homebush facilities.

As in Sydney in 2000 and Beijing in 2008, Business Club Australia (BCA) will have a presence in Vancouver. BCA was set up in Sydney in 2000 to leverage the business opportunities from the Olympics, by holding business networking functions around the Games themselves. BCA had a particularly strong presence in 2008 at Beijing when Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and Trade Minister Simon Crean led a strong delegation of Australian exporters to China to meet their Chinese business counterparts. According to Kevin Lamb from Austrade Vancouver there will be a “smaller scale” BCA presence at the 2010 Winter Olympics in comparison to Beijing because “it’s the Winter Games firstly and the market opportunities are different to that of China.” But Lamb points out “there are over 35 Australian companies based in Vancouver and 2,000 Australian companies exporting to Canada, so they’ll certainly be a loud ‘Aussie presence’ at the Games.”

Lamb also points out the strong Australian population at the ski resort of Whistler, where the downhill skiing, sledding and other fast-paced winter sports will take place. According to John Rae, Strategic Alliances manger for Whistler’s 2010 program, “46 medal events will be in Whistler, compared to 35 in Vancouver so a lot of the action will be up here.”

Rae, together with Whistler’s 2010 Olympics Executive Director, Jim Godfrey has put together a Whistler 2020 strategy to grow the town beyond the Games. One thing I observed in Whistler, is that even in the height of the Canadian summer, the town is full of mountain biker events on the slopes so the town rocks with activity even with no snow!

A further Australian presence will occur at the games as the BCA concept is being ‘exported’ to Canada. The 2010 BC Commerce Centre is setting up business events to help Canadian exporters meet international business visitors. According to Kevin Lamb: “As well as our own BCA events, the Canadians, particularly through the Government of British Columbia and the Municipal government in Vancouver, is keen to use the Games to show off Canada’s economic and environmental credentials, just as Sydney did in 2000.”

In Toronto, Australian Consul-General and Senior Trade Commissioner Stefan Trofimovs, agrees that Canada’s green credentials are an important part of engaging with the country commercially. “While we have a lot in common historically, both Canada and Australia have a strong interest in promoting environmental sustainability in consumer products, but also in architecture and design as well. That’s been a big focus of our trade and investment strategy here in Toronto and across the country.

Mike Harcourt agrees with Trofimovs that economic development must be sustainable. “Vancouver’s world class environmental credentials are one reason we got the games, so we need to look after them as we develop the games Beyond 2010,” he explains.

Harcourt then bids me goodbye and despite the fact that we may not now be blood relatives despite his Australian ancestry he still calls out: “So long, ‘cousin’!” Related or not, you’ve gotta love those Canadians!

Tim Harcourt is Chief Economist with the Australian Trade Commission and the author of The Airport Economist (www.theairporteconomist.com). 

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