The Conference on Canadian Stewardship is to be convened September 13, 2007 in Vancouver. As an industry-led meeting the theme of the event will be: “Should governments be in the Boardrooms and the Bank Accounts of Stewardship Programs?” Throughout the day delegates will hear from leaders involved with stewardship programs in Canada, Europe and the United States that discuss this thesis, eliciting comments from conference delegates. An important sub-theme of the conference is to discuss how performance of programs is measured, and how best practices principles can improve the effectiveness of producer responsibility programs.

A poster session is being organized in cooperation with the Canadian Youth Eco Parliament (CYEP), an international environmental leadership program for Canadian youth. The goals of the program are to instill ecological footprint thinking at the secondary school level, to encourage youth to undertake sustainable local action projects, and to connect youth across Canada and internationally using a web-based forum. Winning students from 7 leading schools across Canada will present the outcomes of their respective eco projects during a poster session that will be held at a reception on Wednesday, September 12th, and during the morning registration and break periods on Thursday, September 13th. For more information on the winning projects, visit the CYEP
web site: http://www.yep-canada.ca/Docs/English/WinningSchools2006_07.pdf

On a bi-annual basis, winning CYEP teams are awarded the privilege of representing their school and country at an international Eco Parliament gathering. In 2006, eight Canadian students travelled to Paris, France. The next international event will be held in May 2008 in Prague, Czech Republic.
Visit www.yep-canada.ca for more information.

WELCOMING RECEPTION

Join us for a Speakers and Delegates Reception the evening before the conference, Wednesday, September 12, 2007 at the Renaissance Harbourside Hotel, commencing at 6:30 until 9:30 PM. Refreshments, good snacks, light entertainment and great conversations are a sure thing.

CONFERENCE AGENDA

Harbourside Ballroom, Renaissance Vancouver Harbourside
Hotel, Vancouver, BC, Canada

CONTINENTAL BREAKFAST 7:30 AM – 8:30 AM & Canadian Youth Eco Parliament (CYEP) Poster Session in Conference Lobby

Mayor Sam Sullivan of Vancouver will open the conference, after being introduced by local host, Neil Hastie, CEO of Encorp Pacifi c. The Mayor will also present awards to Canadian Youth Eco-Parliament delegates. Since accepting the Olympic Flag at the closing ceremony of the 2006 Olympic Winter Games, Mayor Sam Sullivan has become one of the world’s most recognized mayors. Mayor Sullivan is a recipient of the Order of Canada and founder of six non-profi t organizations. Mayor Sullivan’s achievements are extraordinary having been accomplished since he became a quadriplegic after breaking his neck in a skiing accident at the age of 19.

Brock MacDonald, Executive Director of the Recycling Council of British Columbia will moderate the fi rst session of the conference. This session will examine government and industry roles in past and current stewardship programs in Canada. Delegates will hear how stewardship initiatives have developed in Canada, with a focus on the past and current roles of business in the development and administering of successful programs. Robert Lemieux, President of Recyc-Québec will discuss how programs have developed in Quebec, under a model where government sets goals which are met by industry. Also speaking will be Lynn Bailey, Assistant Deputy Minister, Environmental Protection Division, British Columbia Ministry of Environment. Ms. Bailey has had a signifi cant role in the development and implementation of stewardship programs within BC.


Morning Refreshment Break & Canadian Youth Eco Parliament (CYEP) Poster Session

Ron Driedger, Executive Director, British Columbia Used Oil Management Association will moderate this session. This session will describe the impact on business steward programs in Canada and in the European Union. Joachim Quoden, Managing Director of PRO-Europe, a coordinating stewardship organization with pan-European responsibilities will describe programs in the European Union which are undergoing signifi cant change. Such topics as REACH, RoHS, regulated product bans, bottle bill expansions, visible or hidden fees, and other thorny topics may surface in this session.

Also speaking in this session will be Michael Brossard, Senior Vice-President, Marketing and Development for RONA Inc., Canada’s leading home improvement and hardware retailer. RONA has been actively involved in supporting producer stewardship programs through their founding involvement in the creation of Éco-peinture, Quebec’s paint and coatings stewardship program. He is a board member of Éco-peinture. He will discuss a retailer’s perspective of how stewardship can fi t within corporate goals of sustainability.

Ken Friesen, is the President of Earthbound Environmental, Manitoba, where he is a key participant working towards that Province’s stewardship vision. Ken will moderator this session. The session will focus on measuring performance and developing best practices in stewardship programs. Measuring performance and setting best practices in industry-led stewardship are key factors in containing system costs. Speakers will discuss how industry can monitor and determine the performance of stewardship schemes. Christopher Reid, Project Manager, KPMG Toronto will describe a ground breaking initiative underway in Ontario to set up best practice standards for municipal recycling. Another important issue on how to measure performance of stewardship initiatives will be explored by Dave Thompson, of PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) LLP. PwC has been widely involved with examining and evaluating performance in oil waste management programs across Canada.


Afternoon Refreshment Break - 3:00 PM – 3:30 PM

This will be a moderated panel to wrap up a stimulating day of discussion. Derek Stephenson, a well known stewardship professional with extensive experience across North America and Europe, will moderate the session. The theme of the session will be: “When looking forward, what is the role of
business and how will the critical goals be achieved?”

Dr. Fritz Flanderka, is Managing Director of Reclay Holdings, of Germany. Dr. Flanderka brings a wealth of experience in the evolution of stewardship programs, as former Chief Agent of Der Grüne Punkt – Duales System Deutschland GmbH (DSD), one of the original and largest stewardship systems in Europe. His comments will cast light on where programs have evolved to in Europe, and where North American programs may go.

Pat (P.K.) Horgan, Vice-President, Manufacturing and Operations, IBM Canada Ltd. will provide his perspective on the continuing role of business in developing workable and rational stewardship programs for end-of-life products.

The session will be rounded out with Jerry Powell, the well known and knowledgeable publisher of Resource Recycling and E-Scrap News magazines from Portland, Oregon describing how stewardship is progressing in the United States.

4:30 PM – CONFERENCE CONCLUDES – Closing comments from Conference Chair – Neil Hastie, Encorp Pacific (Canada)