State of Region address includes neighbours

Regional Chair Alan Caslin will share the stage his counterparts from Hamilton and Waterloo during his annual state of the Region address, Wednesday.

The Greater Niagara Chamber of Commerce event, taking place at Scotiabank Convention Centre in Niagara Falls from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., will include a roundtable discussion with Caslin, Hamilton Mayor Fred Eisenberger and Waterloo Regional Chair Ken Seiling to talk about the challenges and opportunities their respective communities face.

Caslin will then talk about the highlights and achievements during his term of office, as well as his hopes for Niagara’s future.

Chamber president Mishka Balsom said including the political leaders of neighbouring communities in the discussion will help put local issues in larger context.

“Living in Niagara, we need to look at Niagara, but also really we’re not an island here,” she said. “We do connect on many initiatives with communities and cities outside Niagara. To bring that conversation forward and to strengthen that link, I think is very good for Niagara.”

The roundtable discussion is being moderated by Niagara Workforce Planning Board chief executive officer Mario de Divitiis.

She said state of the region events usually sell out, bringing in 400 to 500 people depending on the size of the venue.

Although the last of 500 tickets for the event were sold on Friday, Balsom said people can still watch on YouTube — www.youtube.com/watch?v=JXl840gJzKc.