June 21, 2011
On June 21 and 22, the Mowat Centre and the Washington, D.C. based Brookings Institution convened the Great Lakes – St. Lawrence Region Summit.In the lead up to the Summit, a series of five op-ed pieces on the region appeared in the National Post. The event brought together 250 Canadian and American participants to define an achievable cross-border agenda for the region.
In facing the global challenges of the coming century, Canadians and Americans in the region have many common interests, particularly around economic transformation and freshwater resources.
A “Detroit-Windsor Consensus” emerged from the Summit: more cross-border collaboration in a variety of sectors is in the interests of communities on both sides of the border. A discussion paper framed the dialogue at the Summit, and the outcomes of the Summit were distilled and incorporated into a final paper, The Vital Commons: A Policy Agenda for the Great Lakes – St. Lawrence Region.
