Mayor Patricia Heintzman was in Asia last week trying to drum up interest in a university campus on the Oceanfront Lands.
Representatives from the University of British Columbia asked Heintzman to go to China as part of a delegation that included representatives from UBC and Newport Beach Developments, including its Squamish front man Michael Hutchison.
In February of 2016, the District entered into a statement of cooperation, signed by representatives from the UBC’s Clean Energy Research Centre, Squamish Nation, Carbon Engineering and Newport Beach Developments.
The aim of the agreement was to create a Squamish-based educational campus on the Oceanfront.
“This is about trying to find partners that can make their financial plan work,” Heintzman said Monday about the recent trip.
The B.C. delegation met with representatives from the Southern University of Science and Technology in the City of Shenzhen, in southeastern China, regarding a possible partnership and campus on the Oceanfront land.
“It went really well. It seems really preliminary,” Heintzman said of the recent meetings.
“It is really important, particularly within certain cultures, for the political side or elected side, to be clear. My job was to go and talk about the land and how the town envisioned the land… as always having a university campus.”
Talks have been underway with the school for a few months, according to Heintzman.
A delegation from the Chinese university came to Squamish two months ago, she said.
The long-term vision of Southern University of Science and Technology leaders is to expand the school’s reach with six new academic colleges and 26 research centers. While in China, Heintzman also attended a dinner hosted by Trade and Invest BC in Guangzhou, a city northwest of Hong Kong. In attendance at the dinner were people representing various interests including tourism, hydrogen fuel cell technology, natural gas and ports, she said.
Staff for Teresa Wat, Minister of International Trade and Asia Pacific Strategy and Multiculturalism, arranged the dinner, according to Heintzman.
At the end of her trip, Heintzman said she also toured Squamish’s sister city, Shimizu, in Japan, located outside of Tokyo and she met with local politicians.
Heintzman’s portion of the trip cost a total of $2,300, according to District staff.
The money came from the mayor’s existing conference budget for 2017.
She has reduced conferences for the rest of the year in order to accommodate it, according to staff.
