Dreamers

Charley Beresford, Executive Director, Columbia Institute and Centre for Civic Governance: Vibrant. Green. A home for everyone. Living wages. Clean air, clean water, clean energy. Zero carbon emmissions. Stunning views.

Access to the outdoors. Preserving our heritage. Lively neighborhoods.
Connected, engaged citizenry.

Great schools. Great ChildCare. A place where you can walk, cycle or take public transit no matter where you're going. Safety from violence, no matter who you are or what your sexual orientation is. A place where diversity is celebrated and appreciated.

Joe Foy, National Campaign Director, Wilderness Committee: The first thing I asked when requested to write down what my vision of a future Vancouver might look like was... “Do you mean Vancouver or do you mean Metro Vancouver, which is Vancouver plus surrounding communities?” I was told to imagine a future for Metro Vancouver.

I figure if you want to plan where you’re going you’d better know where you’ve been.

Tung Chan, CEO, SUCCESS: When two strangers meet, more than likely the topic they would open their conversation with would be the weather. Why is this?

The answer is that the weather is a common experience shared by both people.

My dream for Vancouver would be to create more common experiences for Vancouverites.

Only when we can share our anger, our sorrow and our joy together can we truly become a community.

We need to increase our capacity and our willingness to appreciate each other's culture.

We need to know that when every earthly possession is taken away from us, we are all human beings.

Darcy Rezac, Managing Director and Chief Engagement Officer, The Vancouver Board of Trade: Cities are increasingly the gathering places for the world's peoples. They are places where people live, work, play and connect. How well they accommodate and facilitate that, and the quality of the economic and social capital generated, is a function of engaged community leadership by business, governments and the volunteer sector. This requires energy, wisdom, dialogue and vision.

Doug McArthur, Professor of Public Policy, Simon Fraser University: The Vancouver of my dreams is a truly modern city - people friendly, clean, sustainable and dynamic in its embrace of residential life, commerce, culture, recreation, and leisure. It is crowded with people - on foot, on bikes, on roller blades, in wheel chairs, with walkers, and on clean air buses of all shapes and sizes. It is boisterous and alive with activity. It is safe and respectful of a wide range of life styles. Its population, its buildings, its politics and its work force are all diverse, engaged and dynamic.

Kennedy Stewart, Graduate Public Policy Program, Simon Fraser University: Vancouver is my favorite city on the planet because of its youth and potential. As our city moves through adolescence to adulthood my dream is that we collectively decide to maximize our potential and, ultimately, build a future world city. This statement offers ideas as to Vancouver's best route to world city status which I feel almost entirely rests on enacting a directly-elected regional government.