City of Surrey 2019 Annual Financial Report

CITY OF SURREY OVERVIEWS INVESTMENT & INTERGOVERNMENTAL RELATIONS DEPARTMENT

The Investment & Intergovernmental Relations Department's programs and services include economic policy and strategy, economic analysis, business attraction, sector development, government relations, policy analysis and communications. The department also has responsibility for the following operational divisions:

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT The Economic Development division is responsible for producing and implementing the City’s Economic Development Strategy. The division identifies and develops relations with key stakeholder groups in order to build a strong ecosystem that stimulates investment attraction, job creation, entrepreneurship development and innovation. The Economic Development team maintains current information about businesses in Surrey, and collects and analyzes local, regional and provincial economic data.

INTERGOVERNMENTAL RELATIONS The Intergovernmental Relations division is responsible for producing and implementing the City’s Government Engagement Plan. The division advances the City’s interests with all levels of government and identifies provincial and federal priority alignments and joint program opportunities.

2 0 1 9 A C C O M P L I S H M E N T S

• Worked directly with the Ministry of Public Safety and Solicitor General to help achieve a green light from the Ministry for Surrey to establish a Municipal police department. • Assisted City Departments to secure funding from senior levels of government including $76.6 million from the Federal Disaster Mitigation and Adaptation Fund. • Provided leadership and guidance in supporting the Regional Economic Prosperity Advisory Committee (REPAC) to prioritize investment attraction activities that add value to Surrey’s metropolitan transformation. • Worked with Metro Vancouver’s Industrial Land Strategy team to identify new methods to more efficiently utilize the region’s scarce industrial land resources.

• Collaborated with the Surrey City Development Corporation (SCDC) to develop a Campbell Heights Industrial Land Strategy to identify the most strategic use of the remaining Campbell Heights industrial lands currently available to SCDC. • Increased the number of qualified investment leads to 69, which is a 33% increase over 2018, and resulted in 19 new companies locating in Surrey in 2019. • Continued working with King Sabata Dalindyebo (KSD) Municipality as part of the Building Inclusive Green Municipalities project in partnership with the Federation of Canadian Municipalities to foster local economic development.

• Hosted a Surrey City Centre Roundtable with 12 local stakeholder groups, including educational institutions, Downtown Surrey BIA, and developers, in order to create a consistent set of Surrey City Centre brand guidelines to be used in local, regional, and international marketing materials. • Hosted and supported various events for a total attendance of over 2,000 individuals, promoting Surrey as a business and tech hub, including: TELUS Pitch, Small Business Information Expo, Agrifood Buyers Mission, and the Easter Seals Drop Zone tech event. • Hosted two roundtable sessions between local MPs and MLAs with the Mayor, Councillors and senior management which resulted in deeper understanding of local issues and challenges.

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