Participants from across the province gathered at the PCU Centre, Wednesday, for the Provincially sponsored Gaining Ground: Connecting People and Knowledge conference on active transportation and recreation.
Participants got to hear two keynote addresses: one from Lawrence D. Frank, professor and J. Armand Bombardier Chair in Sustainable Transportation at the University of British Columbia and a second from Michael Arthur, Manager of Physical Activity at the Nova Scotia Department of Health and Wellness.
The former spoke on the health and climate change impacts of transportation and land use decisions while the latter spoke on the Nova Scotia experience with active transportation.
There were also three sessions for the spectators to take part in: Spotlight in Manitoba where three Physical Activity Coalition of Manitoba (PACM) pilot communities – Thompson, St. Malo, and Morden - shared their experience with active transportation; Pecha Kucha gave six presentations on topics like building trails, making maps, school travel planning, and car-free events; finally, a panel discussed the Greater Strides: Taking Action on Active Transportation publication which contained recommendations to the Manitoba government from the Province’s Active Transportation Advisory Group.
Coun. Irvine Ferris attended the conference and said he thought it was great that Portage could host the conference just as the City is working to extend the walking and biking paths in the city.
For the full story see Thursday's edition of the Portage Daily Graphic.