Event Summary

From June 26-28, 2022, the Council of the Great Lakes Region hosted its sixth annual Great Lakes Economic Forum in Chicago, Illinois. Keynote speakers included Megan Leslie, President and CEO, WWF Canada, Steven Altman, Senior Research Scholar and Director, DHL Initiative on Globalization, Center for the Future of Management, NYU Stern School of Business, Michael Gregory, Deputy Chief Economist and Head of U.S. Economics, William Sisson, Executive Director, North America, World Business Council for Sustainable Development, Debra Shore, Regional Administrator, U.S. EPA Region 5, Ambassador Bruce Heyman, Former United States Ambassador to Canada, and Aaron Annable, Acting Consul General and Consul, Foreign Policy and Diplomacy Service, Consulate General of Canada in Chicago. Topics discussed included the state of the Great Lakes economy, regional farming and food systems, the future of the Great Lakes auto sector, trade and supply chains, travel and tourism, building a globally competitive aviation and space technology sector, higher education, decarbonization, environmental and economic sustainability, and water stewardship.

Speakers

Megan Leslie

President and CEO
WWF Canada

Bruce A. Heyman

(Retired)
United States Ambassador to Canada

Debra Shore

Regional Administrator
U.S. EPA Region 5

Aaron Annable

Acting Consul General and Consul - Foreign Policy and ...

Event Summary

From May 6-8, 2019, the Council of the Great Lakes Region hosted its fifth Great Lakes Economic Forum in Cleveland, Ohio. Keynote speakers included UN Environment North America Director Barbara Hendrie, US Coast Guard Rear Admiral Joanna Nunan, Congressman Dave Joyce, Ohio State Senator Larry Obhof, US Small Business Administration Regional Administrator for the Great Lakes Robert Scott, US Economic Development Administration Area Director Dennis Foldenauer, Ontario’s Minister of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade Todd Smith, Astronaut and Canada’s Minister of Transport Marc Garneau, Canada’s Consul General in Detroit Joe Comartin, and US Consul General in Toronto Greg Stanford. Topics discussed included the state of the Great Lakes Economy, regulatory reform, regional farming and food systems, the future of the Great Lakes auto sector, the health economy, inter-tribal trade and investment, travel and tourism, moving trade and transportation, disruption in the Great Lakes energy sector, smart and sustainable cities.

Speakers

Marc Garneau

Minister of Transport
Government of Canada

Rear Admiral Joanna Nunan

Commander, Ninth Coast Guard District
U.S. Coast Guard

Robert Scott

Regional Administrator, Great Lakes
U.S. Small Business Administration

Barbara Hendrie

Director
UN Environment North America

Event Summary

From May 3-5, 2018, the Council of the Great Lakes Region hosted its fourth Great Lakes Economic Forum, presented this year by Toyota Canada, in Montreal, Quebec. Keynote speakers included the Canada’s Minister of Small Business and Tourism, the Director of Ohio’s Department of Natural Resources, the Director of the Wisconsin Department of Economic Development Corporation, Quebec’s Minister of Transportation, and the former premier of Quebec and CGLR Honorary Patron, the Honourable Jean Charest. Topics discussed included the state of the Great Lakes Economy, expanding cross-border cooperation in the aerospace sector, transitioning to a sustainable energy future, the global outlook for trade and investment flows, the future of work and workforce development, and much more.

Speakers

Douglas George

Consul General of Canada in Detroit

Bruce A. Heyman

(Retired)
United States Ambassador to Canada

The Honourable André Fortin

Minister of Transport, Sustainable ...

The Honourable Mark Hogan

Secretary and CEO, Wisconsin Economic ...

Event Summary

From April 24-26, 2017, the Council of the Great Lakes Region hosted its third Great Lakes Economic Forum, presented this year by Toyota Canada, in Detroit, Michigan and Windsor, Ontario. Keynote speakers included the Canada’s Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development, the Honourable Navdeep Bains, Ohio’s 65th Lieutenant Governor, the Honourable Mary Taylor, Canada’s Minister of the Treasury Board, the Honourable Scott Brison, Ontario’s Minister of Economic Development and Growth, the Honourable Brad Duguid, and the Mayor of Windsor, His Worship Drew Dilkens. Topics discussed included setting up the Canada-U.S. relationship for success under President Trump and Prime Minister Trudeau, the positive economic impact of immigration, scaling up cross-border SME trade, building resilient and sustainable supply chains, leading the big data revolution through partnerships, and much more.

Speakers

The Honourable Navdeep Bains

Canada’s Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development

Bruce A. Heyman

(Retired)
United States Ambassador to Canada

The Honorable Mary Taylor

Lieutenant Governor of Ohio

Mick Mulvaney

Director of the White House Office of Management and Budget

Event Summary

From April 24-26, 2016, the Council of the Great Lakes Region (CGLR) hosted its second Great Lakes Economic Forum in Toronto, Ontario. Over 300 business, government, legislative, academic and non-profit leaders from around the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Region participated in the event, including the Lieutenant Governor of Ontario, the Premier of Ontario, the United States and Canadian Ambassadors, and the United States Assistant Secretary for Global Markets at the Department of Commerce. In helping shape regional economic and environmental policy and boosting the region’s competitive edge and sustainability, key issues discussed included cyber security, binational economic development, the future of passenger rail in the Quebec-Ontario corridor, preclearance, shifting to a low carbon economy, modernizing the region’s auto cluster, travel and tourism, mining, agriculture, emergency management, cross-border mergers and acquisitions, the Great Lakes cruising industry, cooperation between institutes of education, and much, much more.

Speakers

Kathleen Wynne

Premier of Ontario

Bruce A. Heyman

United States Ambassador to Canada

David MacNaughton

Canada’s Ambassador to the United States

Yves Desjardins-Siciliano

President and Chief Executive Officer at VIA Rail

Event Summary

From April 26-28, 2015, the Council of the Great Lakes Region (CGLR) hosted its first Great Lakes Economic Forum in Chicago, Illinois. The idea behind the event was simple: create a space where business, government, legislative, academic and non-governmental leaders from around the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Region could come together each year to share ideas in shaping regional economic policy, boosting the region’s competitive edge, and securing its long-term success. Collectively, the presentations and cross-cutting panel discussions, which were punctuated by keynote addresses by the Governor General of Canada, the Governor of Illinois, the Mayor of Chicago, the United States and Canadian Ambassadors, and the Administrator of the Saint Lawrence Seaway Development Corporation, served to remind us that our success as a bi-national economic region is built on a long tradition of hard work, discovery, ingenuity, perseverance, and renewal.

While there will always be a healthy level of competition between the eight American states and the two Canadian provinces that form this region, we were also reminded that in today’s borderless, knowledgebased, global economy, we will never be as strong apart as when we are working together in pursuing common economic goals.

In this regard, the discussions at the Forum, combined with the Vital Commons agenda prepared by the Mowat Centre for Public Policy Innovation at the University of Toronto and the Brookings Institute, begin to set the foundation of an ambitious but practical work plan for the region.

Speakers

Mayor Rahm Emmanuel

City of Chicago
Honorary Chair of the Economic Great Lakes Forum

His Excellency the Right Honourable David Johnston

Governor General and Commander-in-Chief of Canada

The Honourable Bruce Rauner

Governor of Illinois

Ambassador Bruce Heyman

U.S. Ambassador to Canada