About Us
Launch
Thank you, Vancouver!
The spirit was alive Friday, March 30 when over 500 of you turned out in support of the Spirit of Vancouver. The launch marked the start of a year-long campaign to re-ignite the passion we all feel for this beautiful city of ours.
Whether it's promoting existing events, creating new ones or bringing back the ones we've lost over the years, we owe it to ourselves to get involved and harness the enthusiasm for something that has captured the imagination of so many.
It's time to get down to business. The Board is in the process of soliciting and organizing the volunteers while looking ahead to planning the next event under the Spirit of Vancouver banner.
View Vancouver city councillor Lynne Kennedy's speech at the Spirit of Vancouver launch.
"We're going to build a new and exciting reputation for Vancouver from the inside out... one that will restore the life and exuberance of all that our city has to offer."
— Harri Jansson, chair, The Vancouver Board of Trade and CEO, Coast Capital Savings
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"In addition to our very powerful natural environment are the cultural, sport and entertainment activities that we all enjoy. I happen to believe that public celebration is part of what makes a city strong. That really gives a community a personality. All of us have a role to play here. You know, I was sitting back saying, 'Gosh, I wish somebody would do something about this,' and you know you can only say that for so long before you look in the mirror or look around the room and say maybe we should try and do something about this."
— Carole Taylor, chair, Spirit of Vancouver Task Force
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"Good morning Vancouver. Vancouver's never looked so good. Vancouver has an attitude problem." "Let's remember that any city without a thriving arts and cultural community is simply a bunch of boxes with mindless people. Our former prime minister, Pierre Elliot Trudeau, once said that 'People who live at the foot of great mountains are often the last to climb them.' I could paraphrase that and say that 'People who live in great cities are often the last to discover them.'
— Rick Antonson, president and CEO, Tourism Vancouver
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"The root of a vibrant professional and amateur art scene is innovation and prosperity. Innovation alone is not enough. It's the poverty of the artists that allow us to enjoy the richness of cultural life and that's just not fair.""The next generation of British Columbians find nothing unusual about the global setting that we're living in today because they've experienced that from elementary school on up through university. We have to understand that many of the things we are asking for, such as more flexible rights at the airport, trade and convention centre, are not just good for us but we are a major component of Canada's future."
— Michael Goldberg, Herbert R. Fullerton professor of Urban Land Policy and Dean Emeritus of the Faculty of Commerce and Business Administration, UBC
"I moved to Vancouver on purpose, and I intend to stay here. I'll be darned if I'll live in a city that its livability is decreasing in some way. Vancouver seems to have a harder time celebrating than any city I've lived in. We're stuck being Canadians, then we're British Columbians and then we're Vancouverites on top of it. We've got the triple whammie when it comes to celebrating what we're doing and enjoying our city."
— John Nightingale, executive director, Vancouver Aquarium Marine Sciences Centre
"I believe that in order to reawaken Vancouver's entrepreneurial spirit, we need to restore some common sense to the development of regulations and not just celebrate and enjoy the fact that we are creating red tape." |
Launch Sponsors
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BMO Bank of Montreal
Email:
Website: www.bmo.com
Established in 1817 as Bank of Montreal, BMO Financial Group is one of the largest financial services providers in North America. BMO serves its 34,000 clients across Canada through BMO Bank of Montreal and BMO Nesbitt Burns, one of Canada's largest full-service investment firms; and in the United States through Chicago-based Harris. BMO Harris Private Banking has been selected as the best private bank and BMO InvestorLine is ranked as the number one online brokerage in Canada.
BMO Bank of Montreal has been a long-standing and integral part of B.C. since 1887. BMO employs more than 2,800 people in British Columbia — with 141 bank branches and six BMO Nesbitt Burns offices, not including locations in BMO Bank of Montreal branches.
BMO Bank of Montreal is the number two small business lender in Canada, with over 19% market share, and is committed to becoming the number one small business lender.
Copyright © 2007 The Vancouver Board of Trade. All Rights Reserved.