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I am pleased to have a chance to touch base on a few things that have been going on in our community.
 Heritage Canada Foundation Awards and the Prince of Wales
 I recently had the great honour of meeting the Prince of Wales at a private reception in Toronto.
It was a greater honour still because I was there, on behalf of the City of Edmonton, to receive the Prince of Wales Prize for Municipal Heritage Leadership accompanied the City's Heritage Planners Robert Geldart and David Holdsworth.
Edmonton was awarded this prestigious award for our efforts to preserve, protect and understand our past. To receive the prize personally from His Royal Highness, the Prince of Wales, made this very special.
This prize was part of Heritage Canada Foundation Awards that were presented last month, but the Price of Wales wanted to give out his name-sake prize personally while on his official trip to Canada because of his genuine passion and interest in municipal sustainability and heritage preservation issues.
His Royal Highness was gracious, engaged and very funny and it was humbling to be in his presence. We even joked that if such a thing were possible, I would vote for him for king!
 Prince Charles expressed his interest in the work we are doing with our Art of Living, Cultural Plan, and after presenting him with a copy of the plan, we offered an open invitation for him to visit Edmonton in the future.
I am very proud that the City's work on heritage issues is being recognized at such a significant, international level. Edmonton is a relatively young city and in recent years, we, as a community, have developed a greater appreciation for the importance of our architectural history. As a result, identifying and preserving our built heritage has become a greater priority for the City of Edmonton.
Thank you to Heritage Canada Foundation, and the Prince of Wales for this honour and recognition of Edmonton's commitment to heritage preservation.
EXPO - 2017
For cities, there are so few chances to really make a mark and to have the world stand up and take notice of you. Cities have to be smart. The timing has to be right. So many factors need to come together to create winning conditions. All of these considerations are front and centre as we move forward with our consideration of World Expo 2017, and our potential bid.
There is little more than a month until Edmonton officially submits our bid to host Expo 2017 to the Federal Government. A great deal of work has been done this year, including site study, theme research, finances, and first-phase public consultation. Over the next month, final decisions will be made by City Council and the Provincial Government about whether to submit our bid into the national competition. Edmonton has now submitted its bid to the Alberta government for review. Once we receive their support, City Council will review the bid. A final decision on which city represents Canada in the international competition is expected next spring.
The move onto Ottawa is just the next small step of many. Much work still needs to be done. And over the coming months, there will be more opportunity to refine and shape our bid, and to have a full discussion with our citizens about what a bid can mean for our City and to open up many more opportunities for all who are interested to get involved.
For more information about Edmonton's bid, visit edmontonexpo2017.com.
Edmonton-Houston Building Connections
A delegation from Edmonton including myself and representatives from Edmonton Airports, the University of Alberta, Edmonton Economic Development and a number of regional partners, will be heading to Houston in mid November to build on the many economic relationships that currently exist between the Edmonton Region and Houston.
This trip was planned to mark the return of Continental Airlines' non stop air service between Edmonton and Houston, which improves connectivity and shows real confidence in our common economic future. The direct connection between our cities highlights this well.
We will be meeting with key community leaders to discuss business connections between Edmonton and Houston and develop cross-sector links that can boost economic partnerships and connections between our cities. And already, we have so much to discuss, from connections between our energy sectors, to growing relationships in research and technology like nanotechnology and health care.
If you would like more information about any of these initiatives, please don't hesitate to contact me at Stephen.Mandel@edmonton.ca.
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