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Montreal Day in Shanghai Expo
2010. 14 May
The Canadian city of Montreal has opened its pavilion at the Shanghai World Expo which features one of the city's most innovative projects in sustainable urban development. As we hear from Wang Ling, the Complexe Environmentale Saint Michel, which has transformed a quarry-turned-landfill into a large public park, attempts to exemplify the Expo theme of "Better City, Better Life."
Mr. Gerald Tremblay, Mayor of Montreal, inaugurated the pavilion's opening by introducing the first group of visitors to a three-dimensional experience on how the quarry-turned-landfill is becoming a favorite recreation spot for people living in Montreal.
Through telling the story of Complexe Environmentale Saint Michel, Mr. Tremblay explains that his city hopes to teach people that each one of us is responsible for realizing the goal of a better life in a better city.
"What is important to realize is that even though in the past we have what we called negative assets being a big hole we filled with garbage, but we were instrumentally converting it and giving pride to the residents living around the area. The second message is let's not do the mistake of past again. This is a good example to tell people we must recycle and we must convert our organic waste into valuable assets. So it means we have responsibility, an individual responsibility and also collective responsibility to make sure to green the planet. And if we green the planet and we ill have better life for all citizens of the world. "
With the commitment toward a better city and better life, Shanghai and Montreal, which are celebrating their 25th anniverary of being sister-cities today, have agreed to tighten their bond with the innovative and creative approach.
"I think that's major change of mindset. We were providing instrumentally providing quality jobs with the industries of the past. But we now talk about smart growth, which is innovative and creative. And we were very proud to have an agreement with Shanghai. We are going to exchange best practices and make sure that we lead the world to show that we can things together. "
Montreal is one of two North American cities present at the Expo's Urban Best Practices Area, which showcases ingenuity in urban planning from some fifty cities across the globe.
For CRI, this is Wang Ling in Shanghai.