One of the greatest strengths we have economically is also socially based. Our ability as a community to work together across the boundaries to achieve common-good goals makes us the envy of the rest of New Zealand. As a major economic force in the local economy and the custodian of the tradition of helping move us ahead, your Council also has a role to play in moving this cohesion ahead for our common economic and social good.

In the last nine months we have been working on developing specific ways to help move our economy up a few notches to help it reach its potential. We have been working with a wide cross-section of people and groups to come up with a set of ideas that will help move our economy ahead over the next four to five years.

Some of these groups have included the Canterbury Development Corporation, Canterbury Employers’ Chamber of Commerce, the University of Canterbury, Industry New Zealand and independent business people.

We have been working on bringing together ideas that will help drive economic growth and jobs in the near future. We have also thrown into the mix the demanding question of how to make economic growth for social good mesh in with the aim of the Council to work toward more sustainable growth.

The conclusion has been that it will require us all to take a much wider view of our plans and actions than has been the case in the past; a more holistic view.

I believe that this too can be achieved with good will from enough of us. We are very aware that this is a demanding set of goals for any city to take on. So far the team has worked out that we must be willing to build on the major advantages Christchurch has an attractive place to live, play and do business.

We also need to be willing to work across the traditional boundaries and barriers amongst us, and that we need to make a major effort to break through old ideas about commerce to a new realism that acknowledges and encourages a positive attitude toward business and success, and to education, training and employment.

If we can get enhanced economic activity it will lead to higher-quality jobs that will, in turn, help us move toward a more sustainable way of life. Our role as a Council can be to build on our direct connection to the families of Christchurch to broker and build partnerships with other groups and organisations to make sure that all of Christchurch and Canterbury reach their full potential.

This potential is not just environmental, social and cultural. It is also economic. In fact, if we do not move the economic potential forward it will soon prove hard to fund or advance any of our other positive goals.

Such a role for Council has already been established as a possibility in the Local Government Act 2002 and will also be reflected in the Council Long Term Council Community Plan which we are also currently developing.