It is my great pleasure to introduce the City of Victoria’s Economic Development Strategy. I encourage you to take the time to read through this document, contemplate the ideas and principles presented, and then help us make sure this plan comes to life in every corner of our great city. We all know that economic development is fundamental to a healthy and sustainable city. In order to pursue our larger community goals of creating affordable housing and ending homelessness, building a more robust transit system, and investing in our vibrant downtown and neighbourhood villages, we need a strong economy. We need an economy that embraces innovation and creates household sustaining jobs for our residents and our region. With this goal in mind, we have worked with a committed group of community leaders over the last year to put together an economic development strategy that strives to match quality of life with quality of opportunity. We want to make sure that City Hall is doing our part in fostering sustainable growth we can all benefit from. The aim of the plan is to foster the conditions for more jobs and investment to come to our City, to diversify the economy, create a community where residents stay because everything they need is available here, and ensure the City is fiscally strong for future generations. We have many thriving industries in Victoria – tourism, education, marine use, and high tech. We are a Pacific gateway, with lots to offer the province, country and the world. With a strong overarching strategy we can work together to grow our city in a way that makes sense fiscally, environmentally, and socially. This strategy was developed through collaboration and I want to thank all the members of that Advisory Panel for their time and dedication to the City of Victoria. Now, as a community, we have to work together to put this strategy into motion and achieve real results. The City actively participates and provides funding to the regional Greater Victoria Development Agency (GVDA) and we will be working closely with the GVDA in the implementation of this plan specific to the City of Victoria. To learn more, see the full strategy at: http://www.victoria.ca/business/pdfs/economic-development-strategy.pdf