Vancouver and Beyond

Vancouver has been recognized as the 2008 Best Walking City in Canada by the Canadian Federation of Podiatric Medicine. Factors contributing to Vancouver’s win include the city’s natural beauty, extensive parks, and the city’s transportation plan which makes walking one of the top transportation priorities. The city invests in transportation options such as widening sidewalks, neighbourhood traffic calming, and increasing greenways. In addition, land-use planning has resulted in higher densities, and a very walkable downtown core, making it a pleasant host city for meetings and conventions. Vancouver was also recognized for the number of kilometres of trails in the city, its ideal year-round temperatures, good air quality and many points of interest. The award was established to raise awareness of the need for safe, accessible and practical urban walking routes which encourage and enable residents to walk as part of their daily life, and lead to healthier citizens and more vibrant communities.

Tags: canada, Ecotourism, vancouver

The City of Vancouver and Bombardier Transportation will provide a modern streetcar demonstration service to Vancouver residents and visitors during the Vancouver 2010 Winter Games, Vancouver Mayor Sam Sullivan and Bombardier Transportation President of Light Rail Vehicles Grego Peters announced today.

The Downtown Streetcar 2010 Demonstration Project is a state-of-the-art, accessible and sustainable transportation project that will connect Granville Island to the Canada Line Olympic Village Station (Cambie Street and West 2nd Avenue) during 60 days of celebration between January 21 and March 21, 2010.

As part of the partnership agreement, Bombardier Transportation will bring two modern streetcars on loan from Brussels, Belgium to Canada. Bombardier will also operate and maintain the vehicles during the demonstration project.

“As Host City of the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, the City of Vancouver is delighted to be able to partner with Bombardier Transportation to offer a modern transportation experience,” said Sullivan. “This sustainable transportation showcase is an important first step in realizing our vision for the future of the streetcar – a clean, sustainable public transit option for which we believe the day has once again come.”

Sullivan also announced that the City of Vancouver has received permission from the International Olympic Committee and The Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games to name operation of the streetcar service The Olympic Line – Vancouver’s 2010 Streetcar for the duration of the 2010 demonstration project.

“Vancouver’s Olympic Line will demonstrate a new mode of sustainable rail transportation in one of the world’s most progressive transit environments,” said Bombardier Transportation’s Grego Peters. “We are delighted to contribute to the Downtown Streetcar 2010 Demonstration Project and are eager to showcase our high-performing streetcars in Vancouver and to visitors from around the world.”

The City of Vancouver is investing $8.5 million to upgrade the Downtown Historic Railway (DHR) infrastructure, including a $500,000 contribution from the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, which owns and operates Granville Island. This funding will be used to replace the aging and deteriorating DHR rail infrastructure between Granville Island and West 2nd Avenue. The investment creates the opportunity to demonstrate modern low-floor streetcar technology during the 2010 Winter Games while ensuring the continued future operation of the heritage railway after 2010, and making an investment in a future potential streetcar service along the alignment.

About Bombardier Transportation
Bombardier Transportation has its global headquarters in Berlin, Germany with a presence in over 60 countries. It has an installed base of over 100,000 vehicles worldwide. The Group offers the broadest product portfolio and is recognized as the leader in the global rail sector.
For more information, visit www.bombardier.com.

Media contacts:

City of Vancouver
Corporate Communications
604.871.6336

David Slack
Bombardier Transportation
450.441.3190
david.slack@ca.transport.bombardier.com

Tags: 2010, british columbia, canada, olympic games, transportation, vancouver

Council voted unanimously yesterday to support a sustainable transportation program with incentives for employees who work at City Hall precinct locations. The program aims to reduce single-occupant vehicle commuting to the City Hall precinct from its current share of 37 per cent of employees to less than 25 per cent by 2010.

The incentive package available to employees who travel to work by a sustainable means such as transit, carpooling, cycling or walking includes:

• 35 -50 per cent discount on transit passes
• Faresaver passes for transit
• subsidized parking for car pools
• cycling skills courses, bike maintenance workshops, free bike tune-ups and cycling gear
• walking shoes
• a Guaranteed Ride Home program.

The incentive program will not add to the City’s operating budget. Incentives will be funded through setting up pay parking at the City Hall precinct parking lots.

“The City is showing itself to be a leader when it comes to getting employees out of their cars and in to green commutes. We’re doing our part to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and I encourage all Vancouverites to do the same,” said Mayor Sullivan.

Council recently approved additional measures promoting sustainable employee transportation options: a contract was approved with the Co-operative Auto Network (CAN) to provide vehicles for City business needs so that employees don’t need to use personal cars for work requirements. Council also approved bike facility improvements at City Hall.

The City is actively working to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in Vancouver through action plans and commitments, and to shift all Vancouver citizens towards more sustainable types of transportation. Demonstrating leadership and engaging staff is a key part of that work.
For more information:     
Corporate Communications
604.871.6336

Tags: british columbia, canada, Ecotourism, environment, vancouver

Media are invited to attend the opening of the completed Southeast False Creek seawall. Local schoolchildren will join Mayor Sam Sullivan and Park Board Chair Korina Houghton for the first official crossing of the new pedestrian bridge, and a walkabout to see the new features and ecological enhancements along the waterfront.

Wednesday, May 28, 2008
10:30am – 11:30am
Southeast False Creek seawall

The event will commence at the eastern side of the pedestrian bridge on the seawall. Media can access the pedestrian bridge by walking west along the seawall from Science World. 

Broadcast Editors Note:  Broadcast quality video of the installation in December 2007 of the pedestrian bridge is available for download to accredited media at the GVTV ftp site.  Please contact dana.carlson@vancouver.ca for ftp instructions.

For more information:
Corporate Communications
604.871.6336

Tags: british columbia, canada, tourism, vancouver

The Czech Embassy in Ottawa, a participant at the Globe 2008 Trade Fair, is presenting in addition to environmental technologies and solutions by Czech companies, an ancillary event in the form of a film series to be screened the afternoon of Friday March 14 2008 from 1 pm to 6 pm at the Fairmont Waterfront Hotel.

The environmental award winning films that were previously shown at the EKOFILM Festival in the Czech Republic and at other international festivals of equal significance come from diverse countries each showing specific yet globally impacting environmental issues.

As a global community what happens in any country will ultimately have consequences for all of us.

The films to be presented in Vancouver include:

Prapodivný svět (Bizarre World) (2006, 26´, director Steve Lichtag) a Czech documentary on micro-life in the waters of Czech and Slovak rivers and streams; a tragic life of small fish in an often brutal and apparently legal fishing environment.
Starts at 1pm

A Killer Bargain: (2006, 57´, director Tom Heinemann) a movie about the availability of cheap consumer goods, imported by Western companies, whose prices don´t reflect the actual human and environmental costs of the production in the developing world. The connections are shockingly clear.
Starts at 1.30 pm

Proklatě smutné kuře (Damn Sad Chicken) (2005, 11´, director Ivo Bystřičan) A documentary expedition through the vicious circle of consumer buck-passing. The tragedy of a chicken within the framework of an impersonal system of production is not something worth a consumer’s attention; it shows how a man in the midst of a humanistic society loses the ability of being able to influence his surroundings. I am hungry: What more is there to it?
Starts at 2.30 pm

The End of the Glacier: (2005, 47´, director Uwe Muller) Large areas of Earth are covered with ice. It is an unfriendly environment for life. People stand no chance in these icy regions, still the ice masses have a great importance even for them. However, this frozen beauty is in the retreat. Whether it be the Alps, south America or the polar regions, it is getting warmer all over the world. What will happen when the glaciers recede even further?
Starts at 2.45 pm

Crude Impact: (2005, 98´, director James Wood) A powerful exploratation of the interconnection between human domination of the planet and the discovery and use of oil; a movie on our deep-rooted
dependancy on the availability of fossil fuels and the implications of the impending threat of a global peak in oil availability.
Starts at 3.40 pm

Ropáci (Oilgobblers) (1988, 20´, director Jan Svěrák) directed by one of the most popular Czech filmmakers Jan Svěrák; awarded in 1989 a Student Oscar by the American Film Academy; a fictional documentary about the discovery and research of a unique animal the “ropák“ („oilgobbler”) who lives in the Northen Bohemian region, and lives on coal and above all loves exhaust gases…
Starts at 5.20 pm

Má vlast (My country) (2002, 13´, director Alana Hynková) Immense floods damaged the capital of the Czech Republic Prague in 2002. A documentary about frustration, fear and hope.
Starts at 5.45 pm

EKOFILM FESTIVAL (www.ekofilm.cz) is the oldest film festival in the environmental domain, founded in 1974 in the city of Ostrava. Since 1997 the festival has been held in the very picturesque towns of Český Krumlov and in České Budějovice. In addition to the screening of films the festival hosts seminars with special guests, and other additional activities. The festival is held in the Czech Republic every year in October.

Where: Malaspina Room, Fairmont Waterfront Hotel, 900 Canada Place Way, Vancouver
When: Friday March 14, 2008, from 1 to 6 pm

Free admission

All movies are in English or with English subtitles

For further information, please contact Petra Klobusiakova at the Czech Embassy in Ottawa, tel. 613 562 3875 ex. 26 or email: ottawa@embassy.mzv.cz

Tags: british columbia, canada, film festival, vancouver

Leaders in Sustainable Tourism to meet in Vancouver, British Columbia, October 2008

The International Ecotourism Society (TIES) Announces Host for Annual Conference

Washington DC, December 19, 2007 Leaders in sustainable tourism from across North America and beyond will be meeting in Vancouver, British Columbia, October 27-29th, 2008 at the Ecotourism and Sustainable Tourism Conference (ESTC 2008), The International Ecotourism Society (TIES), announced today.

Hosted by the British Columbia Ministry of Tourism, Sport and the Arts and the Council of Tourism Associations of British Columbia, the conference will provide opportunities for business leaders, travel and tourism professionals and community members to gain knowledge of the latest trends in ecotourism and sustainable tourism, learn practical skills, and participate in invaluable networking and knowledge sharing. The ESTC 2008 will be held at the legendary Fairmont Hotel Vancouver, and will also include pre-conference trips to both Whistler and Victoria, B.C.’s capital city.

“We are pleased to be hosting the Ecotourism and Sustainable Tourism Conference in 2008,”said Stan Hagen, B.C. Minister of Tourism, Sport and the Arts. “As a key economic driver for the province, tourism, and more importantly sustainable tourism, will play an influential role in how we reach our recently mandated goal to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 33 per cent by 2020. This is the most aggressive target for any destination in North America.”

This is the third conference by TIES focusing on sustainability in travel and tourism in North America. In 2005, TIES hosted the first Ecotourism in the U.S. Conference, which was followed by this year’s North American Ecotourism Conference (NAEC) in Madison, Wisconsin, which brought together sustainable tourism professionals and businesses from across the U.S. and Canada.

Through the development of these two historic conferences, TIES has witnessed significant growth of the sustainable tourism community in the U.S. and Canada. Recognizing the importance of this movement for the region’s tourism industry as a whole, TIES is holding the ESTC yearly to expand the network of industry practitioners and experts and to encourage greater awareness and implementation of the principles of ecotourism and sustainability practices in the U.S. and Canada. “TIES is thrilled to partner with the B.C. Ministry of Tourism, Sport and the Arts, which is generously sponsoring the ESTC 2008, and to collaborate with the BC Sustainable Tourism Collective during a time when we are seeing the sustainable tourism industry experience unprecedented growth around the world,” says Kelly Bricker, TIES Executive Director.

As the conference name indicates, the annual conference will not only provide sustainable solutions for tourism businesses, it will also highlight innovative sustainable practices and case studies in the U.S. and Canada, and discuss effective ways to utilize the sustainable tourism community’s experience and expertise to tackle some of the critical issues and key challenges facing the industry today, including: climate change, sustainable business practices, wildlife conservation, community partnerships and innovative technologies for greening the tourism industry.

With British Columbia preparing to welcome the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games to Vancouver and Whistler, the timing of bringing this conference to Canada is perfect. A recent study conducted by TNS Canadian Facts, a market and opinion research firm, reported that nearly two-thirds of Canadian travelers say they are concerned about global warming, as well as the loss of natural habitats and ecosystems. The study also found that 83 per cent of Canadian travelers agree that sustainable tourism practices would have a positive effect on the world’s future and that many Canadian travelers would take personal action including switching from a preferred holiday destination to another that supported sustainable tourism.

TIES has launched the ESTC 2008 conference website—www.ecotourismconference.org—through which updates on the conference program will be announced in the coming months. Media inquiries about the ESTC 2008 conference should be sent to: media@ecotourism.org or +1 202 347 9203×412. To request information on sponsorship opportunities for the ESTC 2008, please contact: sponsorship@ecotourism.org or +1 202 347 9203×422.

Tags: Ecotourism, vancouver