This coming weekend the City of Corner Brook and Town of Stephenville will be co-hosts for delegates from the City of St Germain en Laye, in France. This visit is fully funded by the European Parliament as part of their International City Cooperation program. The purpose of the visit is for delegates from St. Germain sur Leye to see how Corner Brook and Stephenville are approaching issues like climate change, immigration, City infrastructure maintenance, sustainable development as well as cultural standpoints and tourism. From August 19-23 the delegates will travel between both communities and the surrounding region, visiting post-secondary campuses, municipal buildings and tourist destinations. In the fall, delegates from here will travel to France to do the same.

This is part of a wider effort from the European Parliament, implemented by the European Union’s Directorate General for Regional and Urban Policy, to pair European and Canadian Cities in a journey of mutual learning. The program also contains pairings between St. John’s and Ultrecht, Netherlands, Halifax and Fuenlabrada, Spain, and Toronto and Frankfurt.

More information can be found via a backgrounder below.

QUOTES

“It is common for Corner Brook to share knowledge and collaborate with communities in our region, province and across Canada. Now, we are excited to learn from across the pond! I am grateful for the funding we have received from the European Parliament through their City Cooperation program, and the opportunity for learning it will provide everyone involved. Thank you to our French counterparts for taking the trip, and we look forward to showing you what Corner Brook and the Western Region of Newfoundland and Labrador has to offer!” – Mayor Jim Parsons, City of Corner Brook.

“The Pairing of the City of St. Germaine sur Laye with the City of Corner Brook and the Town of Stephenville provides us with the opportunity to trade best practices with a European City.  The Town of Stephenville, with its deep Acadian and French roots, sees the pairing as an opportunity to re-establish our traditional connections with France and Europe while developing our new green connections into the future.” – Mayor Tom Rose, Town of Stephenville.

MEDIA CONTACTS
Ryan Butt
Communications Officer
City of Corner Brook
Office: (709) 637-1662
Cell: (709) 632-8113
rbutt@cornerbrook.com

Colin Maddock
Chief Administrative Officer
Town of Stephenville
Cell: (709) 649-4277
colin.maddock@stephenville.ca

BACKGROUNDER

The International Urban Cooperation program – Acting for a Green and Inclusive Recovery, is a city to city cooperation program focused on a range of current issues. These include Climate Change, Circular Economy, as well as Immigration challenges and solutions. The program is funded by the European Parliament and implemented by the Directorate General for Regional and Urban Policy and will see four (4) separate city to city partnerships between Canadian and European Cities. Jointly, they will build common solutions to challenges in the broad area including Immigration/labor, climate change resilience and sustainable development.  These pairings will involve a funded visit from the Canadian city to the European City, a return visit by the European City to the Canadian city, all as part of a structured engagement process.

www.iuc.eu