“It’s not solutions we need as much as we need decisions”

I didn’t say this.  I heard it from a great speaker, Parin Izadi of GHD Consulting.  Parin was addressing the delegates at the recent Blue Cities Conference (kudos to CWN for hosting a great event).  She wasn’t dismissing research or innovation at all but noting that what we need more importantly is timely decision-making.  There is certainly tremendous effort across Canada to develop and introduce innovative solutions, but without decision-making, this innovation cannot be implemented.

I wrote recently about the renewed focus on governance models and how this may affect decision-making.  This was identified as a factor in the Calgary watermain situation and is a focus of the provincial Government in Ontario that is legislating a move to municipal water corporations.  This will definitely be a discussion at the National Conference in Halifax.

Regardless of the governance model, the procurement/design/contracting process has become extremely complicated and be quite bureaucratic.  How can we do this better?

We’ll take a deep look in the various Collaborative Delivery models at the National Conference with a half day workshop as part of the program.

As Canada’s Utility Management Conference, we look at many aspects of managing a utility – and we’ll have a full session just looking at how we make decisions, and how we may do this better.

Meanwhile, our world is changing rapidly.  Climate Change is having tremendous impacts on our communities and the entire planet.  If we are to even get close to national and global targets, some very serious decisions need to be made.  We are excited to hear that the Canada Water Agency has been tasked with developing a Water Security Strategy for Canada.  We will hear from Mark Fisher, President of the CWA at the National Conference in Halifax.

Are you catching the subtheme of this article?  Go to the National Conference!

This is the most important event for water leaders across Canada – to hear from federal policymakers, learn from each other and build critical networks.