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Sparks fly in debate on World Economic Forum

Decision put off to April 2 to allow for community input After nearly nine months of trying to keep the lid on discussions about hosting the World Economic Forum, the pot boiled over Monday in council chambers.

Decision put off to April 2 to allow for community input

After nearly nine months of trying to keep the lid on discussions about hosting the World Economic Forum, the pot boiled over Monday in council chambers.

Emotions ran high as the debate wandered from what business Whistler is in to how Whistler can advance its own agenda; from communicating with the community to security issues and the potential for violence.

"If we’re not interested, we’re just going to be a little ski area. Maybe Desmond Tutu won’t rent skis from you, Dave," Ted Milner said referring to fellow Councillor Dave Kirk, who owns several ski shops.

"I know these people are intensely capitalistic, but they bring some socialists with them," Milner continued.

"We’re all wringing our hands – it’s a five-day conference two years from now. I don’t get it."

"I really resent your glibness, that I may suffer for five days because Desmond Tutu won’t rent skis from me," Kirk fired back. "I think it’s time you got back before a cash register."

Mayor Hugh O’Reilly was also frustrated by the opposition, and Kirk’s complaint that he wasn’t prepared to discuss the World Economic Forum because it wasn’t on council’s agenda.

"We didn’t discuss this last meeting because you and others were away," O’Reilly said to Kirk.

"The question is, is this a fit? Is it appropriate?

"I thought we should do this. I bought in (to the sustainability initiative). I’m now trying to do something meaningful on a global level," O’Reilly said, referring to how Whistler could make sustainability part of the agenda if the WEF held its forum in Whistler.

"But there’s no backbone. If we’re all going to end up dead, Dave, we’re not going to worry about your store. This is five days. Where’s the backbone?"

After more than an hour’s debate on the issue, which at times produced applause from some of the 50-or-so people who jammed council chambers, councillors decided to put off a decision until a special meeting is held April 2. In the meantime municipal staff will put together information packages and guiding principles that will be available to the public, and public input will be sought.

A motion by Councillor Ken Melamed to schedule an open house on the matter failed.

Communication with the community about the World Economic Forum was at the forefront of councillors’ concerns. Councillor Nick Davies said: "I tend to support the World Economic Forum, but I’m troubled by the lack of public input." He later said if he was forced to vote that night he would oppose the forum, but if the vote was held two or four weeks hence he would support it.

Councillor Kristi Wells responded that there is no process for public input in place. "If we’re just buying time, I’m not going to support it," she said.

Wells added that: "This has highlighted for me that we don’t communicate very well."

Melamed agreed that public input was needed. "I think we missed an opportunity to engage and communicate with our community," he said.

It was the World Economic Forum, a private organization made up of 1,000 of the world’s top corporations, that asked that discussions with Whistler be kept confidential.

The WEF holds its annual meeting at the end of January. The forum brings together business, political and academic leaders, as well as non-governmental organizations, for discussions about the state of the world.

For 30 years the WEF has held its annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland. This year it moved the meeting to New York. The WEF will return to Davos in 2003 but is considering holding its January 2004 meeting in Whistler.

Three-thousand delegates attended this year’s WEF meeting in New York. O’Reilly said Whistler has the hotel capacity in January to handle that size of conference.

The whole WEF matter got started last March when Klaus Schwab, the Swiss founder of the World Economic Forum, visited Whistler and met with O’Reilly, Tourism Whistler CEO Suzanne Denbak, Doug Forseth of Whistler-Blackcomb and David Roberts, general manager of the Chateau Whistler, to discuss the possibility of Whistler hosting a future forum. Discussions continued over the summer and a technical team evaluated Whistler, but at the request of the WEF discussions remained behind closed doors.

Whistler-Blackcomb has since made it clear that it opposes the WEF meeting in Whistler.

On Feb. 3, at the WEF meeting in New York, O’Reilly met with Premier Gordon Campbell, federal Industry Minister Allan Rock and Schwab. Campbell invited Schwab to have the WEF meeting in Whistler in 2004. Whistler’s conditions for hosting the forum, which were expressed to Campbell, Rock and Schwab, include senior governments paying for the second phase of renovations to the conference centre and covering the cost of security, and Whistler’s involvement in the planning to prevent an obtrusive presence in the village.

But the exclusive nature of the whole process irks some.

"I’ve spoken against this since June," Kirk said. "Most of our discussions have been in the privacy of these walls. There’s been little information given to the public."

Kirk said council had taken two unofficial votes regarding the forum and each had come out 4-3. Each time it was felt that result wasn’t a mandate to host the forum, partially because there had been no public consultation.

Kirk also suggested this year’s WEF meeting in New York isn’t a valid comparison to Davos or Whistler.

"The image of Whistler is not barbed wire, fences and security, nor is it of protests, nor is it of violence," Kirk said.

He added that reports from Whistler’s RCMP indicated there would be a significant amount of this type of imaging coming from a WEF meeting in Whistler.

O’Reilly, in a written report to council, outlined security issues and logistics as they are currently envisioned. Among the measures would be a designated area for protests and tight security in the conference centre and the hotel where most delegates stay. But the village should remain largely open to the public. The report states the WEF would prefer no roadblocks and no blocking of access to the village. Other security measures would be at the discretion of the RCMP.

"I don’t want to give the impression security wouldn’t be noticeable," O’Reilly said. "It would be tight at times and there would be areas closed."

O’Reilly noted Whistler has a history of weighing risks and boldly moving forward.

"These are people with the ability to change the World," he said. "Klaus Schwab was impressed by our sustainability initiative. Ray Anderson is very supportive."

Anderson, founder and CEO of Interface Inc., the largest producer of commercial floor coverings in the world, was one of the speakers in Whistler’s Leadership Through Sustainable Innovation series. He has suggested hosting the World Economic Forum would be an opportunity for Whistler to push sustainability on to the WEF agenda.

"I’m not discounting the suggestion we could influence the agenda," Melamed said. "But I think we’d be further ahead aligning ourselves with a sustainability conference or other organizations."

"We’ve made some bold statements about sustainability," O’Reilly countered. "This is an opportunity. Do we dare?"

Wells said hosting the forum is an opportunity for exposure, and with increasing competition from other resorts "we need to look at any opportunity for sustainability. These are the people in a position to enact change."

Melamed replied that he’d like some confidence the forum would be about sustainability.

"We need a staff strategy that actually turns it into sustainability. We need to go into this with a plan for greater sustainability, not just talk," he said.

"That’s what we can do," O’Reilly said. "We’ve taken a lot of little steps to changing the world. Now we have a chance as a community to display it, to talk about it."

O’Reilly added that most people paint a dismal picture of the world, not believing they can make a difference.

"It’s the value-added things, not the conference centre (renovations), that excite me. It’s a chance to tell our story."

Melamed suggested Whistler communicate to the WEF that it’s flattered to be considered but needs more time to make a decision.

"If we’re not reasonably comfortable I’m not sure they want us," O’Reilly said.

A final decision will be made by council, and by the WEF in April.