Former Fort McMurray Fire Chief to speak at Growing the North Conference

Jan 5, 2018 | 12:15 PM

The line-up of speakers for the 9th Annual Growing the North Conference has been announced.

The event is held year-over-year to give industries a platform to highlight opportunities in their field as well as connect entrepreneurs and municipal leaders with information. Topics range from agriculture to oil and gas with this year including a segment on “Opportunities in Cannabis”.

“We are looking to help business people understand what is going on around them and help them understand what the opportunities might be,” explained Dan Pearcy, CEO of the Chamber of Commerce.

Throughout the two days at the Entrec Centre, people can attend speeches on various topics mixed in with networking opportunities.

Darby Allen is the Keynote Speaker for the conference with his segment closing out the final day. The former Fort McMurray Fire Chief guided 88,000 residents out of the city during the wildfires in 2016 which turned out to be the largest Canadian evacuation in history. He will speak on “Facing Community Emergency and Crises and Overcoming Them”.

Pearcy said it gets easier each year to fill out the list of speakers.

“We look for a cross reference of industry representatives. We try to have someone from forestry, oil and gas, agriculture, and economic development as well as new opportunities within industry.”

You can find a full list of speakers on the Growing the North website.

by Justine Kelsie