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Wednesday, May 18, 2016 The Valley Echo
ALLEY CHO
The Invermere
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Members of the Akisqnuk First Nation, including (left to right) Jacqueline Phillip, Arianna Birdstone and Melanie Phillip, performed a cultural welcome on May 12th, welcoming Wings Over the Rockies festival-goers to the wetlands adjacent to the Lakeshore Resort & Campground. The event included drumming, dancing, legends and a traditional fry bread snack. PHOTO BY ERIC ELLIOTT
Valley trails get TLC from Summit Trail Makers
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Kootenay economy focus of AKBLG conference ERIC ELLIOTT eric@invermerevalleyecho.com Local politicians and community leaders gathered in Kimberley at the end of April for the annual Association of Kootenay and Boundary Local Governments (AKBLG) Conference, under the theme, “The Kootenays: A Great Place to do Business.” The AKBLG is the local government association that represents the municipalities and electoral districts of southeastern British Columbia. Its makeup includes the Regional Districts of East Kootenay (RDEK), Kootenay Boundary (RDKB) and Central Kootenay (RDCK) and as well as the town of Golden and village of Valemont as one of five area associations that form that Union of British Columbia Municipalities (UBCM). The purpose of the annual conference is to identify issues that impact the environment, economy and social
well-being in southeastern B.C. and nays’ largest seniors housing and care come up with resolutions that can be provider in addition to being the sixth further discussed at the UBCM Conven- largest employer. tion in September later this year. “We have two facilities here in InverThis year’s conference featured a mere that are managed by (Golden Life) number of speakers from across B.C. so what was probably most interesting who contributed to the theme of do- was hearing more about what she enviing business in the Kootenays. Greg sions or sees as potential future trends Caws, President and that might be comCEO of BC Innovaing down the road We don’t want to tion Council, was in the future,” Taft stop it. We want to the conference’s said after the conkeynote speaker, manage it. We want it to be ference. talking about his fair for everyone. Other smaller CLARA REINHARDT background in techtalks included a preMAYOR, RADIUM HOT SPRINGS nology and what the sentation from Dr. province is doing to encourage growth Terri MacDonald who serves the region in this sector of the economy. in her role as BC Regional Innovation Gerry Taft, mayor of Invermere, found Chair in rural economic development. the presentation by Celeste Mullin to RDEK director Gerry Wilkie said he be of specific interest to the Invermere found this talk of specific importance community. Mullin is the vice presi- as it dealt with research on economic dent of corporate business for Golden development directly in the Kootenays. Life Management, which is the Koote“Her research is original and it’s fo-
cused on the Kootenays so it’s not as if it’s something that’s borrowed from the Harvard Business School,” he said. “I think in particular my interest is the sleeping giant of agriculture, even if it’s on a small-scale.” He said this includes topics such as local food production, food safety and food security. Coincidentally, the RDEK board recently passed a resolution to further their agricultural planning over the next year. One of the main resolutions that came out of the AKBLG conference that will be brought forward to the UBCM later this year dealt with short-term rentals in relation to traditional commercial hotels in the Radium area. Currently, there is no legislation mandating vacation rentals by owner to pay business licences or any regulated fees, allowing them to pocket more money than commercial accommodators like hotels. See A2
Nine Lives Would Not Do The Life of Leo Grillmair Wednesday May 25, 7:30 pm at Pynelogs Tickets at the door Visit columbiavalleyarts.com for our current events calendar, or call 250-342-4423 · Pynelogs Cafe - Open Tuesday to Saturday 11 to 4 pm