The Vital Commons: A Policy Agenda for the Great Lakes Century

Produced by the Mowat Centre at the School of Public Policy and Governance, University of Toronto.In June 2011, the Mowat Centre and the Brookings Institution convened leaders from the government, business, labour, non-profit, and academic communities, from both Canada and the US, to identify ways to collaborate across the border and ensure the prosperity and sustainability of the region. Participants agreed that more mature collaboration across the Canada-US border was essential to effectively tackle the region’s challenges and to capitalize on its significant opportunities. This paper outlines the possible forms of cross-border regional collaboration. The Great Lakes – St. Lawrence Region currently experiences a variety of sectoral partnerships. We propose a model of more mature collaboration through the establishment of a Great Lakes Partnership Council (GLPC) to connect and strengthen the many nodes of the Great Lakes – St. Lawrence Region network and help support the successful sectoral initiatives already taking place