After a recent trip to China, officials from City of Powell River and Tla’amin (Sliammon) First Nation have signed a partnership agreement with Chinese cities Dalian and Zhuanghe.
Powell River mayor Dave Formosa, Tla’amin chief Clint Williams, School District 47 superintendent of schools Jay Yule and city chief financial officer Shehzad Somji traveled to Dalian in China’s northeast region to sign the agreement, talk international education partnerships and meet with Mr. Lu, the owner of the company that recently bought Catalyst Paper Corporation’s excess land on and around Wildwood bluffs.
“I suggested that the partnership not just be with the City of Powell River, but also with Tla’amin,” said Formosa.
Formosa explained that the agreement allows for greater cooperation on sectors such as education, forestry, aquaculture paper and tourism.
Dalian is China’s most northern warm-water port at the tip of the Liadong peninsula and has a population of roughly six million. Zhuanghe with its population of about 800,000, is located near Dalian, but is more spread out and rural.
“They are a city very much like ours, with the ocean and mountains there,” said Formosa.
The agreement may be bring Powell River one step closer towards economic revitalization, he said.
“I didn’t think it would take 10 years to do it, but it’s happening,” said Formosa.
The partnership agreements happened as a result of Lu of Starium Development Inc., approaching Zhuanghe’s local government.
Formosa explained that Lu has a plan for establishing a university, hotel, small marina and residential neighbourhood on the recently purchased land.
“The university is a big piece of it,” said Formosa. “We actually met with the government there and talked about a joint relationship.”
Formosa said there are also ongoing discussions about creating and building a Canadian school in China that would provide Chinese students the opportunity for a western-style education in an English environment.
“From there they do university, coming here for the odd semester or later on in their program,” said Formosa. “At the end of the day they are going to want to end up here because they are going to want to finish their degree here. They know from here North America opens up for them.”
The mayor estimated that the education part of the agreement will probably make the biggest difference initially, but then he expects the tourism sector to pick up as a result.
“Cultural exchange is big,” said Formosa. He added that other business deals were also talked about, but could not comment on details.
“The university piece is really exciting and I was really happy to be there and be a part of that seed,” he said.
Lu also has an offer on the PRSC Limited Partnership land in Wildwood, but the deal is subject to its removal from the Agricultural Land Reserve (ALR), said Formosa.
Formosa said he doesn’t “hold a lot of hope” for the land’s removal from ALR, but added he discussed with Lu some options for how the land could be used if it could not be taken out.
Councillor Russell Brewer said that it was too soon to comment on the proposed development and said he planned to ask the directors of the Powell River Waterfront Development Board, who make up one half of PRSC with Tla’amin, for the details of the proposed sale.
“That’s got implications and I’d have concerns if that was subject to removal from the ALR, but I don’t know all the details,” he said. “I think food and agriculture should be one of our main priorities, in addition to economic diversification.”
Brewer said that he supports no-net loss of agriculture land and added that he would support any development “that leverages the use of agricultural land for economic diversification.”
Formosa said he is expecting the mayor of Zhuanghe and possibly Lu to visit Powell River in October to finalize the agreement.
