In The News

Toronto's CivicAction Alliance recently brought over 700 Toronto-region leaders together for a two day conference on the most pressing issues facing the GTA. On the table were some of Toronto's greatest challenges from transportation to a changing economy. As well as its most exciting assets, from cultural diversity to a thriving arts and culture scene. In the coming months, a report synthesising the much-needed conference could provide a blueprint for how Toronto can work together for a more prosperous future.

"Born under the leadership of the late David Pecaut as the Toronto City Summit Alliance after a 2002 meeting of civic leaders, CivicAction has proven the power of bringing leadership from every sector to bear on thorny regional challenges. Past summits led to initiatives like the Toronto Region Immigrant Employment Council to help immigrants get their all-important first Canadian work experience, a task force to address barriers that prevent working-age adults from working, and Luminato, the annual festival of arts and creativity."

"CivicAction's 2007 summit produced Greening Greater Toronto to identify and advance ideas to improve the region's environmental health and related business opportunities. One idea was to get landlords and tenants collaborating to drive down commercial building energy use. Greening Greater Toronto has done this, creating an innovative made-in-Toronto strategy to improve this major driver of carbon emissions and air quality."

"The last summit also resulted in DiverseCity, which helps businesses and other organizations capitalize on our unique cultural diversity, and galvanized CivicAction's Emerging Leaders Network � a powerhouse of 350 up-and-coming civic leaders who are spearheading their own projects on issues like economic development, sustainability and municipal electoral reform."

"These and other CivicAction projects have demonstrated the potential of collaborative leadership. They have also shown that social, economic and environmental issues do not respect municipal borders, and neither do the lives of most Toronto region residents. Many of us live in one municipality and work in another, and we regularly travel across the region for events or to visit friends and family.The message going into the summit is clear. On every major issue the Toronto region faces, we need the strong leadership of people from all walks of life and to take a regional and better coordinated approach so that we create more coherent, efficient and effective responses. Now it is up to the summit delegates and other Toronto region leaders to make that happen."

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original source Toronto Star