City of Powell River Mayor Dave Formosa has been awarded a Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee medal.
Councillor Maggie Hathaway, standing in for MLA Nicholas Simons, presented the medal to Formosa during the April 4 council meeting. Simons was delayed in Vancouver because of transportation issues and wasn’t able to return in time for the council meeting.
Formosa’s family waited downstairs until just before the medal presentation, then walked into council chambers. Hathaway read comments from the Governor General of Canada, David Johnston. “In granting you this honour, I thank you for your dedicated service to your peers, to your community and to Canada,” Hathaway read. “The contributions you have made to our nation are most commendable and deserve our praise and admiration. I wish to convey to you the heartfelt congratulations of your fellow Canadians, to which I add my own.”
Hathaway added a few words of her own. “I think everybody is very familiar with Dave Formosa the businessman, Dave Formosa the mayor,” she said. “But behind the scenes there is an awful lot of work that he does that most people don’t know about. In my work with people who live in poverty, I hear about it all the time. So thank you for everything you do.”
The Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) selected Formosa to receive the medal in honour of the contributions he has made to the community and to all of Canada.
“Your peers in local government across the country admire your accomplishments as a community leader and congratulate you on earning this prestigious award,” stated a letter from FCM president Karen Leibovici to Formosa. “FCM chose you to receive this distinction for your exemplary efforts to make your community a great place to live.”
Formosa said he received notification of the award some time ago and he was shocked that FCM had selected him. He said he believes the essence of the award came from the city’s leadership, including current and past councils, in issues involving Catalyst Paper Corporation. “As we all know, it was a team effort,” he said. “It wasn’t me by any means, although I did get involved. There was a lot of help and a lot of people were involved.”
He thanked council and staff for their support and said the medal was “pretty cool. But I think the most cool part was watching my family walk in.”
The Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal honours significant contributions and achievements by Canadians. The Canadian government created the medal to mark Queen Elizabeth’s 60 years of service to the country.
