Vancouver Welcomes Western Canada in 2012

Program

Session Title and Description Speaker Presentations
Sustainability and Smart Growth
Our Keynote Address is from the mayor of Yellowknife, who has personally led his City on the path to sustainability
His Worship
Mayor Van Tighem
Mayor of Yellowknife
 
The Artistry of Change
Our opening speaker asks: "Can you afford an uncreative team?" Organizations that are alive with creativity, notice:
  • higher resiliency during times of change
  • greater productivity and innovation
  • less staff turnover and absenteeism
  • more staff who are self motivated and committed
  • less complaining, blaming, turf wars and gossip
  • more open minded discussions that produce results
Carla Rieger  
Holding Not for Profit Organizations Accountable When providing Funding
The session will give direction on how local governments can hold Not for Profit Organizations Accountable when providing Funding
Phil Wever
BDO
Holding Not-for-Profit Organizations Accountable
Building a Sustainable Team
This presentation will introduce Real Teambuilding Tools that will help you build real teams. Develop successful team habits, rituals and activities that will create a healthy environment where real work can get done.
Jason Labonte Building a Sustainable Team
What's New in Accounting and Auditing Standards for Local Governments
A panel of speakers from the leading Audit firms will inform us about what we need to know about the latest standards.
Panel of experts  
Sticks & Stones an Adventure in Conflict Management
Reg will give us tools and processes that make a difference in reducing the suffering in the workplace
Reg Shandro  
Caseware Tips & Tricks
Many municipal governments are benefiting from the use of CaseWare Working Papers to automate their year/quarter end reporting. But are they getting the most from their investment? This presentation, outlines numerous time-saving/simplifying options (some new and some old) that many users overlook.
Jamie Black  
Small Municipalities Forum
In this regular feature of the conference, speakers from the four provinces will address issues faced by small communities and hold an open forum in which they can be discussed.
Representatives from the 4 Western Provinces  
Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympic Games - Experiences of a Host City
This session provides an overview of Vancouver’s successful experience hosting the 2010 Winter and Paralympics Games. The session covers the preparation and planning that precedes the games including strategies for transportation, security, venues and athletes housing, and financial aspects. It provides a behind the scenes look at the City’s role during the games period and how Vancouver engaged its staff and citizens in making the games a catalyst for national pride. The session also covers the challenges and issues, lessons learned, and the legacies from hosting one of the world’s largest events.
Greg Krueger
City of Vancouver
 
Tying Your Budget to Your Strategic Plan
Strategic Planning how, when, where and why and how is budgeting tied to the plan
Transitional Solutions
Kevin Robins, Donna Tona
Tying Your Budget to Your Strategic Plan
Public Infrastructure: The Fiscal Challenges Facing Urban Municipalities
A significant shift in public infrastructure funding occurred over the last 20 years. Local governments are now absorbing the lion's share of costs associated with the construction, replacement and maintenance of buildings and capital equipment required by Canadians on a daily basis. Other orders of governments have yet to implement long term sustainable partnerships with towns and cities to maintain strong and competitive communities. This session will explore some of the shifts which have occurred, the growing infrastructure gap, and some of the key principles which are essential to establish a stronger partnership between municipalities, developers, the private sector and our national and provincial governments.
Laurent Mougeot
SUMA
 
Sustainable Buildings and Their Financial Implications
Payback and financial implications of sustainable offices and buildings. A case study of the decisions and financial implications of Servus - Credit Union’s new head office. How Servus managed costs and the end result relative to not creating a Leeds standard building.
Brian Los
Servus
Sustainable Buildings and their Financial Implications
P3's - Obtaining Funding from the P3 Canada Fund - Session 1 Selecting the Right Project
The session will provide an overview of how to select the right infrastructure project from which will give you with the best opportunity to gain access to the PPP Canada Fund. It will provide guidance on how to choose the most suitable project and tips on what may help your project be selected.
Chris Kynicos and Paul Levelton of KPMG P3's Obtaining Funding from the P3 Canada Fund: Selecting the Right Project
P3's - Obtaining Funding from the P3 Canada Fund - Session 2 Procurement and Implementation Stage
With announcement of approved projects under the second round of P3 Canada funding, there are several municipalities in western Canada that have or soon will be launching procurement processes to implement their P3 projects. This session moves beyond the theory of P3 and provides insights and practical advice for municipalities that are procuring a P3 project for the first time.
Mark Hodgson
Deloitte
 
The Workplace 180: How to get from "We’re too busy" to "Bring it on!"
The work is always piling up. The project list keeps growing. Will we ever make progress? This presentation will give you some simple strategies to help you prioritize the work load, energize your team and make lasting progress towards getting things done
Jason Labonte The Workplace 180
Infrastructure Sustainability
Focusing on decisions facing financial municipal leaders around the provision of infrastructure services such as water, waste-water, waste management etc from the perspective of firstly ensuring financial sustainability and secondly addressing matters such as environmental sustainability (for example GHG impacts, reducing levels of waste, waste to energy initiatives, etc.). We find a key issue, is at the political level there are broad statements and positions being articulated with regards to environmental issues, which often are tied into infrastructure services, but what do those mean to financial officers?
Grant Thornton Infrastructure Sustainability
Economic Update
Peter Gibson joined CIBC World Markets Inc. in 2009 as Head of Portfolio Strategy and Quantitative Research. Peter has been ranked #1 in Quantitative Analysis for 20 years. He has also been ranked #1 in Investment Strategy for 8 of the last 11 years. Prior to joining CIBC Peter was the Vice-Chairman and Head of Portfolio Strategy & Quantitative Research at Desjardins Securities and a Former Advisor to the Minister of Finance and Deputy Prime Minister. Peter also has significant expertise in asset allocation, Federal Reserve interest rate policy, sector analysis, stock selection and the identification of torpedo stocks.
Peter Gibson
CIBC Wood Gundy
 
North America – Trends, Strategies and Solutions that are changing the world of B2B Payments & Working Capital
Today, many corporations and the public sector are re-evaluating their B2B Payments & supporting processes.
  • How can we streamline our processes? Are there significant savings to be uncovered?
  • Plus, most companies are developing a 'Go Green' strategy and B2B payments is a logical 'green' initiative.
Doug MacCallum
BMO
B2B Holistic Payments Discussion
Professional Accountants: Creating and Managing Sustainability
Sustainability issues have transformed the competitive landscape, forcing organizations to rethink their business models. These issues are caused by factors such as the degradation of the natural environment, realignment of global markets and rapid changes in technology. Professional accountants play a vital role in creating and managing business strategies that go beyond conventional accounting practices, and incorporate long-term economic, social and environmental objectives. While today's accountants must answer the question, "Is this financially sound?", they must also deal with "Is this sustainable?"

This presentation will define sustainability and the concept of sustainable value. It will examine the role of a professional accountant in creating, enabling, preserving and reporting sustainable value; and will discuss the drivers of a sustainable organization. The presentation will also touch on the qualities and skill set required by a professional accountant to successfully manage a sustainable organization.

Kara Mitchelmore
CMA Alberta
 
Social Media
Who is the audience and how do we reach them and in what format Pros and Cons of new technology and communication policies Frauds and schemes
Transitional Solutions
Donna Tona, Barry Jenzen
Social Media
Good Character and Local Government
Our closing speaker speaks about what he calls "old-fashioned goodness":
  • Positive attitude
  • Respect and kindness
  • Hard work
  • Honesty and integrity
  • Thankfulness
  • Humor and laughter
  • Life-long learning
Hal Urban