The Mayor of Cold Lake is among those at a conference that brings together around 2000 leaders of municipalities across Canada. The Federation of Canadian Municipalities hosts an annual conference and trade show featuring guest and leaders from across the nation for three days of swapping ideas and exhibitions. This year’s event is in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Cold Lake Mayor Craig Copeland says networking with leaders of communities with the same goals and aspirations as Cold Lake is worth the trip.
“You end up finding like-minded municipalities that have the same issues. If you come out to these things enough you sort of meet the people that you need to meet.”
The conference features three days of keynote speakers, trade shows with a variety of displays for local governments and then finishes with elections for the FCM board of directors on Sunday. Mayor Copeland says the votes go a long way in helping the communities be heard by the federal government.
“FCM is like a political body that lobbies the federal government, so important positions. We’ll be nominating someone to sit (on the board) for Alberta.”
The mayor says he expects to discuss topics such as oil and gas and pipelines with different leaders from across the country for the next three days. The conference is due to wrap up on Sunday.