Maple Ridge’s economic advisory commission has a new chair and vice-chair for 2011. Glenn Ralph, general manager of Pitt Meadows Regional Airport, is in the top spot, with accountant Chris Rounding as vice-chair.
Maple Ridge’s economic strategy calls for diversifying the tax base by attracting growth in the education, tourism and high-tech sectors.
“Maple Ridge is poised for unprecedented growth,” Ralph said in a release.
Mayor Ernie Daykin and Couns. Al Hogarth and Judy Dueck are also on the commission.
Food strategy
The Metro Vancouver board has adopted a Regional Food System Strategy to increase awareness of local food is produced and consumed.
Its five goals: increasing capacity to grow food locally; improving financial viability of the food sector; helping people make healthy choices; ensuring they have access to health food; and ensuring the food system is consistent with ecological health.
“We are very fortunate in this region to have rich agricultural lands and freshwater that can produce nutritious food and provide food security closer to home. The challenge is to put more local food in our grocery stores and on our plates,” said Harold Steves, Metro’s agricultural committee chair.