Wayne Gretzky's scoring success has been attributed to his ability to skate to where the puck was going to be rather than to where it was. This captures the challenge for public policy: to figure out where the world is going to be so that the right policies are in place at the right time. The NEXT West Project engaged a wide variety of western Canadians to generate and debate the public policy strategies best able to promote economic prosperity and quality of life in the region over the long-term.
The project was split into two phases: Economic Transformations and Generational Transformations. The Economic Transformations Initiative began in 2005 with four economic scenario planning meetings. These meetings led to the first report in February of 2006: Coming Up NEXT: the Transformation of Western Canada's Economy. The report gave a series of predictions on how the western economies would evolve over the next 10-20 years.
This report was soon followed by the Shaping Our Future Conference, held in Calgary in the spring of 2006. The conference pulled together over 100 economists, business and community leaders, and policymakers to discuss western Canada's economy. Participants were challenged to put forward public policy recommendations for how we can position western Canada's economy so that it will be thriving 20 years from now. These recommendations were boiled down into a discussion paper: Shaping Our Future: Creative Ideas For Transforming Western Canada's Economy was released in October of 2006.
Generational Transformations examined how the next generation (those born beginning in 1980) will change Canadian governance and society. This began with the 2006 Looking West Survey, the findings of which were analysed a series of four reports: Consistent Priorities, Democracy in Western Canada, Political Identities in Western Canada, and Under 35.
In October of 2007, the Canada West Foundation hosted the Generating Wealth Summit, which gathered 52 business leaders and entrepreneurs from across western Canada, all under the age of 40, to discuss the factors they believe will shape the economy over the next 10 to 20 years. This conference was summarized in the report Generating Wealth: A Summit for Western Canada's Next Generation of Business Leaders.
The NEXT West Project came to a close in March of 2008. The end of the project was marked with the release of two reports: The Next West Generation: Young Adults, Identity and Democracy served as the last word on the psychological traits, civic engagement, and political identities of western Canada's young adults, while State of the West 2008 provided a thorough economic and demographic overview of the four western provinces and how they have changed since the last State of the West report in 2003.
Also released through the NEXT West Project was A Continental Divide? Rethinking the Canada-US Border Relationship. This report examined US-Canada relations through the lens of a dispute between the American Environmental Protection Agency and Canadian corporation Teck Cominco.
Core funding for the NEXT West Project was provided by Western Economic Diversification Canada and the Kahanoff Foundation. Additional funding was provided by an anonymous foundation, the Canada West Foundation Founders' Endowment Fund, Canadian Western Bank, CN, Petro-Canada, Philips, Hager & North Investment Management Ltd., Teck Cominco Limited, and SaskEnergy. The Canada West Foundation expresses its sincere thanks for this generous support.