Event Summary

From April 24-26, 2016, the Council of the Great Lakes Region (CGLR) hosted its second Great Lakes Economic Forum in Toronto, Ontario. Over 300 business, government, legislative, academic and non-profit leaders from around the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Region participated in the event, including the Lieutenant Governor of Ontario, the Premier of Ontario, the United States and Canadian Ambassadors, and the United States Assistant Secretary for Global Markets at the Department of Commerce. In helping shape regional economic and environmental policy and boosting the region’s competitive edge and sustainability, key issues discussed included cyber security, binational economic development, the future of passenger rail in the Quebec-Ontario corridor, preclearance, shifting to a low carbon economy, modernizing the region’s auto cluster, travel and tourism, mining, agriculture, emergency management, cross-border mergers and acquisitions, the Great Lakes cruising industry, cooperation between institutes of education, and much, much more.

Speakers

Kathleen Wynne

Premier of Ontario

Bruce A. Heyman

United States Ambassador to Canada

David MacNaughton

Canada’s Ambassador to the United States

Yves Desjardins-Siciliano

President and Chief Executive Officer at VIA Rail

Event Summary

From April 26-28, 2015, the Council of the Great Lakes Region (CGLR) hosted its first Great Lakes Economic Forum in Chicago, Illinois. The idea behind the event was simple: create a space where business, government, legislative, academic and non-governmental leaders from around the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Region could come together each year to share ideas in shaping regional economic policy, boosting the region’s competitive edge, and securing its long-term success. Collectively, the presentations and cross-cutting panel discussions, which were punctuated by keynote addresses by the Governor General of Canada, the Governor of Illinois, the Mayor of Chicago, the United States and Canadian Ambassadors, and the Administrator of the Saint Lawrence Seaway Development Corporation, served to remind us that our success as a bi-national economic region is built on a long tradition of hard work, discovery, ingenuity, perseverance, and renewal.

While there will always be a healthy level of competition between the eight American states and the two Canadian provinces that form this region, we were also reminded that in today’s borderless, knowledgebased, global economy, we will never be as strong apart as when we are working together in pursuing common economic goals.

In this regard, the discussions at the Forum, combined with the Vital Commons agenda prepared by the Mowat Centre for Public Policy Innovation at the University of Toronto and the Brookings Institute, begin to set the foundation of an ambitious but practical work plan for the region.

Speakers

Mayor Rahm Emmanuel

City of Chicago
Honorary Chair of the Economic Great Lakes Forum

His Excellency the Right Honourable David Johnston

Governor General and Commander-in-Chief of Canada

The Honourable Bruce Rauner

Governor of Illinois

Ambassador Bruce Heyman

U.S. Ambassador to Canada