Description

The New Westminster Chamber of Commerce in partnership with the Downtown New West BIA invites you to the Economic Forum at Anvil Centre February 6, 2025, presented by Beedie and Pooni Group! 

This is the community's premier event to imagine a vision for New West in the next five, ten and even fifteen years. What do we want for housing, business, industry, infrastructure and amenities? What are the challenges we can address and aim to improve in our community? We have a new government in Victoria and a local government that is working on a new 5-year economic plan. This is our chance as a community to collaborate with and inform legislators on what we envision for the future!

All Day Access tickets include:

• Open Networking
• a Delicious 3-course served luncheon by Truffles Catering with panel of speakers
• 2x Breakout Sessions of your choice, led by small business owners and community organizations
• Showcase of local business owners, community members and event sponsors

Tickets start at $99 for Members and $110 for Non-Members.

More details can be found below. 

Please register by February 3, 2025. If you would only like to attend the Afternoon Session (Breakout Sessions and networking), you can do so here. 

Register by following the prompts and registering all guests in your group including the name, organization, email address, menu choice, dietary needs, and which Breakout Sessions they would like to attend. *If you are an Event Sponsor or Partner, additional registration information will be emailed to you beginning of January. 

For registration questions or to purchase a Table of 10, please contact events@newwestchamber.com.

EVENT DETAILS

FULL AGENDA

11:45-12:00pm Registration begins inside the lobby of the Anvil Centre, first floor

12:00pm Network and find your seats inside the main ballroom for lunch

12:15pm All guests find their seats

12:20pm First Course is served

12:30pm Program Begins: Welcome, Land Acknowledgement and Introductions

12:45pm Panel begins and Main Course served

1:15pm Q&A 

1:30pm Networking (Lobby) and coffee/tea and dessert is available

2:15pm Breakout Sessions #1 and #2 begin (Rooms A&B) 

3:00pm Breakout Sessions #3 and #4 begin (Rooms A&B)

3:30-4:30pm Enjoy the Business Community Showcase in the Lobby 

4:30pm Event Ends

MENU

First course: Artisan Mixed Green Salad with pumpkin seed, cucumbers, pickled carrots, radish with a lemon thyme vinaigrette (GF) (DF) served with bread and butter

Second Course: choice of Roasted Fraser Valley Chicken Breast served with organic carrots, fingerling potato, broccolini and red wine jus (GF) (DF) OR Butternut Squash Ravioli with roasted mushroom, toasted pecans, sage truffle cream (vegetarian, can be made Vegan/DF)

Third course: Classic Lemon Meringue Tart (sweet pastry crust with lemon curd topped with toasted meringue) and full coffee/tea service. 

PANEL 

Hosted by Rich Patterson of the New Westminster Chamber of Commerce and Angelene Prakash of the Downtown New West BIA, this event will feature a panel comprised of Gary Pooni of Pooni Group, Laura Grady of Arts New West, Canadian Actress Kandyse McClure, and Chief Administrative Officer of the City of New Westminster Lisa Spitale, moderated by local journalist Charmaine de Silva. They will be sharing on visioning, building, philanthropy and future-proofing communities. 

Breakout Session A (Choice of One):

1. Independent Retailers and Restauranteurs Panel: Moderated by Ian Tostenson from BC Restaurant and Foodservice Association

OR

2. Leveraging Hollywood North as a Tourist Driver: Presented by Tourism New West

Breakout Session B (Choice of One):

3. The Impact of Big Projects- Affordable Housing and the Expanded Hospital: Moderated by Jeff Norris of Royal Columbian Hospital Foundation

OR

4. Downtown Historical Properties Walking Tour: led by the Downtown New West BIA and multiple-property owner David Serraf

THANK YOU to our Event Sponsors and Partners:

Beedie, Pooni Group, Vintop Development, EDGAR Development, FortisBC, Custom Realty, PBJ Merch Co

Community Partners: The Downtown New West BIA, City of New Westminster

 Media Partner: The New West Record

Print Sponsor: Royal Printers

We hope to see you there!