Good afternoon, everyone, and members of the Standing Committee on Finance.
My name is Elizabeth Model and I'm representing the Downtown Surrey Business Improvement Association, the City of Surrey, and the Surrey Campus of Simon Fraser University.
With 465,000 people—and growing—Surrey is British Columbia's fastest growing region and our 12th largest city in Canada. Put into perspective with the United States, we would rank 35th population-wise—larger than Sacramento, California, that state's capital, and Miami, Florida. It's a youth-oriented city. It's rich and diverse, with an intertwining of ethnic and cultural backgrounds that brings a special vibrance and mix to the City of Surrey.
Our forward-thinking mayor, Dianne Watts, and her team of councillors and city staff have commenced work on the very large first-phase civic centre project in downtown Surrey, for which you have brochures. It comprises the commercial, business, residential, educational, and entertainment sectors, all brought together in one metro downtown core.
The first funding we're going to request is to complete a project on the Surrey campus of Simon Fraser University. It's an internationally recognized and innovative university. It's repeatedly ranked first in Maclean's survey of universities as Canada's premier university, due to its innovative teaching and scientific research and development activities. It targets and attracts future entrepreneurs, who are supported in the student venture program, which utilizes internationally recognized business people who participate in the program as mentors for enrolled students. This fall they have surpassed their target enrollment by 20%, and they have waiting lists.
Simon Fraser University requires a new health sciences and technology building on previously purchased SFU-owned land, a project budgeted at $16 million.
The second thing we're requesting is a proposed arts and cultural component for the downtown core, a 1,600-seat flex theatre and 250-seat studio theatre, which will be a draw for arts, entertainment, cultural, and learning activities. It will also act in conjunction with Simon Fraser University for large-scale lectures, conferences, conventions, and multimedia presentations. It will act as a catalyst, bringing the community together to create a positive, upbeat designated area for drawing more people to the metro downtown core of Surrey.
The economic spinoff is huge. More people equate to more jobs; more jobs, more services; more services, more business, more activity, more investment. It equates to a larger tax base and also has a multiplier and trickle-down effect within the community, where everyone will benefit, both the profit and not-for-profit sectors. It creates a healthy, vibrant, and balanced community.
The required funding for the City of Surrey's arts and cultural component is $150 million.
Finally, we ask for your continued support and endorsement of Service Canada's student employment program, which obviously allows for wonderful learning opportunities for our youth—and our youth are our future. We all remember our first job and what it taught us, or didn't teach us, in life and where we wanted to go. So we ask for your continued support with regard to that program.
So what are we asking of you?
We're asking you to lay the foundation for our future growth in Surrey—liveable, vibrant, downtown Surrey. It's exciting, it's happening, it's Surrey. So believe in us, invest with us. The future lives here in Surrey.