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Mike Harcourt

    LIVING WATER SMART IN BRITISH COLUMBIA: “Cities are all about choices – choices that become reality very quickly, with lasting consequences. Over the 21st century – the urban century – much will depend upon getting the choices right,” stated Mike Harcourt, former Premier of British Columbia


    When he was Premier, Mike Harcourt was the political champion for a TOP-DOWN AND BOTTOM-UP network approach to collaboration in BC. A defining moment for local governments during his time as Premier was the launch of the transformational Georgia Basin Initiative in 1994. At the Partnership for Water Sustainability Forum in January 2026, Mike Harcourt said: “I would like to put a call to action on the record to do with land use planning and ecological and economic sustainability. We need to integrate all the disparate changes now taking place.”

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    LIVING WATER SMART IN BRITISH COLUMBIA: “The maximum freedom of decision exists, of course, when no decisions have been made and the problem is one of establishing the social objectives and appropriate policies for their achievement,” wrote Professor Percy McGauhey (1904-1975), University of California Berkeley, author of Engineering Management of Water Quality


    Percy McGauhey was an early proponent of an interdisciplinary approach for making better decisions. Buried in his textbook published in 1968 is this gem: “Ideally, the alternatives on which a final political decision is made in the field of water resources management should come from a team of experts from the several disciplines concerned. Historically, however, no such team has been utilized.” His hierarchy of decision making was the source of inspiration for the Partnership for Water Sustainability’s cascading approach to outreach and continuing education in the 2000s.

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    LIVING WATER SMART IN BRITISH COLUMBIA: “A request from Todd Pugh of CivicInfo BC was my source of inspiration for evolving Waterbucket eNews to feature stories behind the sources,” stated Kim Stephens, Executive Director, Partnership for Water Sustainability in BC


    In 2020, Todd Pugh of CivicInfo BC had an idea for a feature called Civic Voices. This inspired the Partnership for Water Sustainability to run with the idea of stories behind the stories. “The idea is pretty simple. We run a lot of municipal press releases, but there are deeper stories to be told. We want thoughtful columns that highlight interesting ideas, concepts, or experiences. In short, we would love to hear about the journey – a behind-the-scenes story, from a first-person perspective,” stated Todd.

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    LIVING WATER SMART IN BRITISH COLUMBIA: “For a generation of elected representatives, Erik Karlsen was a familiar face in the local government setting. His influence was profound and far-reaching. He touched many lives,” stated Kim Stephens of the Partnership for Water Sustainability BC


    Erik Karlsen had a remarkable impact on the shape of BC communities. He was always where the action was – where creative and innovative energies were flowing. His ability to gravitate to that action – and to ‘morph’ into whatever current political form it was taking – was a real feature of Erik’s career. He had a job description like any other employee in the public service, but no supervisor, Assistant Deputy Minister or Deputy Minister, ever had the slightest idea what Erik actually did with his time. His trademark was that he got good things done.

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    LIVING WATER SMART IN BRITISH COLUMBIA: “Storytelling is among the oldest forms of communication,” stated Professor Rives Collins, author of ‘The Power of Story: Teaching Through Storytelling’ (2024 Series Season Finale in December)


    We share our world view through our stories and storytelling This is how we pass on our oral history. Storytelling is the way we share intergenerational knowledge, experience and wisdom. “Storytelling is the commonality of all human beings, in all places, in all times,” stated Professor Rives Collins, Northwestern University, author of “The Power of Story: Teaching Through Storytelling”.

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    LIVING WATER SMART IN BRITISH COLUMBIA: “I think it is great that the Partnership for Water Sustainability is the keeper of the Georgia Basin Initiative legacy and that what we started in the 1990s continues,” stated Mike Harcourt, the former Premier of British Columbia whose leadership made possible the Georgia Basin Initiative during a critical period


    Mike Harcourt talked about the cross-border collaboration that was his bigger picture context for the Georgia Basin Initiative. In turn, it provides context for Metro Vancouver’s Livable Region Strategic Plan. This was deemed to be the region’s first regional growth strategy when Minister of Municipal Affairs Minister Darlene Marzari approved it in February 1996. Cross-border collaboration, the George Basin Initiative and Livable Region Strategic Plan are nested layers for integrating planning, engineering and environmental perspectives to create livable communities!

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