The federal government has announced the winners of the Smart Cities Challenge, and Squamish is not on the list.
In April the District sent in their application in a bid to win $10-million towards “turning waste into assets — clean energy, renewable materials and new products.”
The concept was explored at a symposium that invited private business partners to Squamish to discuss using new technology to solve community issues.
“In reviewing the list of finalists it is clear that Squamish was up against some stiff competition,” said Mayor Patricia Heintzman in an emailed statement. “Our intention through applying for the Smart Cities Challenge was that we use and leverage this initiative to catalyze a conversation about the future and how technology and resilience could stimulate collaboration and ideation. The process was invaluable and Council is very pleased we made the effort to apply,” she said.
Infrastructure Canada launched the challenge in November 2017, offering one prize of $50 million, two prizes of $10 million for communities with populations under 500,000 and one prize of $5 million for populations under 30,000.
Local governments and Indigenous communities were asked to partner with nonprofits or businesses in order to “develop innovative, future-focused solutions to society's’ civic issues and forge strategic economic partnerships.”
Squamish was competing against a number of communities across Canada. Finalists in the $10-million category included Victoria seeking money for a “multimodal transportation network” and Richmond’s proposal for “resilient physical and virtual platforms that are integrated seamlessly across all levels of government to enhance quality of life in day-to-day activities and minimize community impacts from major disasters.”
Among finalists for the $50-million is Vancouver and Surrey, whose joint proposal was a plan to “implement Canada’s first two collision-free multi-modal transportation corridors, leveraging autonomous vehicles and smart technologies.”
Heintzman said she hopes the “circular economy” concept that was part of Squamish’s proposal can continue to be used by the District. She also said the federal government has suggested future rounds of the contest, which Squamish would like to take advantage of.
