Dale Wall
A Champion for Green Infrastructure
Dale Wall retired from government as Deputy Minister for the Minister of Community, Sport and Rural Development. Prior to his last appointment he was Assistant Deputy Minister, Local Government Department. He also worked for the Ministry of Finance, Cabinet Planning Secretariat and the Ministry of Municipal Affairs.
Over the course of his career, Dale Wall was involved in a number of significant public policy projects including: the development of the variable tax rate system; legislation governing the assessment and taxation of major industrial property; forest land reserve legislation, negotiations with the federal government on the New Deal; Growth Strategies; and the creation of the Greater Vancouver Transportation Authority.
Connection to Green Infrastructure Partnership
In 2003, Dale Wall was a founding member of the Green Infrastructure Partnership. When appointed as Deputy Minister in 2008, he was asked if he would be able to continue to serving on the Steering Commitee. His response was:
“Absolutely. The Green Infrastructure Partnership has achieved a great deal over the past four years, and can take credit for spurring innovation in the BC engineering community. Now, there are parallel programs such as Local Motion and the Gas Tax Agreement that recast the opportunity to make the every day investments that will lead us to the right place.”
“The strength of the Green Infrastructure Partnership llies in its engineering infrastructure foundation, with the Showcasing Innovation Series proving powerful in getting the images right and seeing them on the ground. It is when we deal with engineering and planning issues together – telling the whole story of how to overcome BOTH engineering and planning hurdles – that we cut across other disciplines,” added Dale Wall.
In May 2008, he announced the launch of both the rebuilt Water Balance Model and the Vancouver Island Learning Lunch Seminar Series at the Gaining Ground Summit in Victoria. To view a video clip featuring Dale Wall and posted on YouTube, click here.
“We are using the slogan The New Business As Usual to convey the message that, for change to really occur, practices that until now have been viewed as the exception must become the norm moving forward. We have to build regulatory models and develop models of practice and expertise to support The New Business As Usual”, stated Dale Wall.
About Dale Wall
“Looking back, Dale Wall embraced the long term benefits of a new idea. In essence he was supportive of innovation with potential, as he saw it, both within and outside of government. In particular, his staunch support and timely participation in the Green Infrastructure Partnership (GIP) provided our ‘convening for action’ efforts with credibility,” states Ray Fung, GIP Chair.
“In the early years of ‘convening for action’, two defining moments stand out for me: the first was in October 2006 when the GIP met with members of the Metro Vancouver Board and he made a dramatic entrance; and the second was in January 2008 when he hosted a GIP meeting and challenged the Steering Committee to ‘raise the bar’ on Vancouver Island, in the Lower Mainland and beyond,” continues Kim Stephens, Executive Director of the Partnership for Water Sustainability in BC.
“Dale Wall’s role as an early supporter, funder and patron of the CAVI-Convening for Action on Vancouver Island initiative from the perspective of the provincial government gave credibility to the project at a critical stage of its evolution,” concludes Eric Bonham, a founding member of the CAVI Leadership Team, and a former Director in the Ministry of Municipal Affairs.
