On October 24th 2018, the Border Policy Research Institute hosted a one day policy forum on cross-border collaboration, with a focus on three topical areas: transportation & infrastructure planning, business integration, and transboundary environmental cooperation. We discussed the state of regional cross-border collaboration in these areas and identified avenues to advance these efforts, as well as barriers that currently exist. This forum is particularly timely given the current political atmosphere and state of U.S.-Canadian affairs, which has only heightened the importance of stronger cross-border collaboration. Individuals from government, private sector, and academia were in attendance. This one day forum was hosted at Western Washington University from 8:30am-3:30pm.
The forum was broken up into three panels:
Transportation/Infrastructure Planning moderated by Bruce Agnew, Director of Cascadia Center at Discovery Institute. This panel featured speakers Hugh Conroy (Director of the International Mobility & Trade Corridor Program), Dr. Bill Anderson (Director of Cross-Border Institute, University of Windsor), Lina Halwani (Director of Planning, BC Ministry of Transportation), and Todd Carlson (Washington Department of Transportation).
Business/Economic Integration moderated by Dr. Chris Sands, Johns Hopkins University. This panel featured speakers Matt Morrison (CEO of the Pacific Northwest Economic Region), Dr. Kathryn Friedman (University of Buffalo & Woodrow Wilson Center), Hana Doubrava (Corporate Affairs Director, Microsoft Vancouver), and Solomon Wong (President & CEO, Intervistas Consulting Group).
Transboundary Environmental Cooperation moderated by Don Alper, Professor Emeritus at WWU. This panel featured speakers Ginny Broadhurst (Director of the Salish Sea Institute), Margit Sare (Cross-Border Fellow, Center for Transboundary Cooperation), David Marshall (Executive Director, Fraser Basin Council), and Katrina Radach (The Nature Conservancy).
The forum also featured a lunch keynote by Brian Wootton, Regional Director of Incident Management at the Canadian Coast Guard.
