Community Champions who had attended an earlier stakeholder workshop presented the context for their challenge areas to the Smart Cities Challenge Evaluation Team.

Mark Anderson – UNBSJ Urban Institute > Historical Asset Challenge: The City of Saint John has significant historical assets that are undervalued and inadequately leveraged to generate new tourism revenue and attract more tourists to our region.

Mohammed Bagha – SJMNRC > Population Challenge:  Saint John is the only CMA in the country to show a declining population in the last census.

Donna Gates – Living SJ > Social Inclusion & Poverty Challenge: People in our community face social isolation due to conditions related to poverty, immigration and aging.

Ian MacKinnon – Saint John Transit > Citizen Engagement Challenge: A lack of digital connectivity makes it difficult for the Municipality to engage citizens and deliver responsive, quality services to residents.

Ryan Mitchell – Saint John Energy > Energy Challenge: Rising energy costs have a negative impact on businesses and residents.

Graham Stewart Robertson – ACAP > Climate Change Challenge: It is difficult to manage outcomes and lessen the effects of climate change and extreme weather events.

Challenge areas were evaluated using a set of defined criteria by the following leaders in the community.

• Mayor Don Darling – City of Saint John
• Ron Gaudet – CEO, Enterprise Saint John
• Jeff Trail – City Manager, City of Saint John
• Wendy MacDermott – Executive Director, United Way of Greater SJ
• Andy MacGillivray – Advisory Board Chair, Smart and Connected Community Data Project
• Paul Mansz – Partner, EY
• Randy Hatfield – Executive Director, Saint John Hunan Development Council
• Brenda MacCallum – Fundy Regional Service Commission

Population Decline was selected as the challenge to take forward in the process.