MLA for West Vancouver-Sea to Sky Jordan Sturdy joins Mayor Jack Crompton on Episode 17 of the Whistler Podcast to discuss local and regional challenges and opportunities as businesses begin to reopen in BC. MLA Sturdy explains operational modifications at the legislature meetings and improved connections between elected officials in the Sea to Sky Corridor as a positive outcome of COVID-19.
Business are facing many challenges during the pandemic, including agricultural staffing shortages. The importance of supporting the tourism economy is highlighted, to ensure a safe and hospitable experience is provided for guests.
MLA for West Vancouver-Sea to Sky Jordan Sturdy joins Mayor Jack Crompton on Episode 17 of the Whistler Podcast to discuss local and regional challenges and opportunities as businesses begin to reopen in BC. MLA Sturdy explains operational modifications at the legislature meetings and improved connections between elected officials in the Sea to Sky Corridor as a positive outcome of COVID-19.
Business are facing many challenges during the pandemic, including agricultural staffing shortages. The importance of supporting the tourism economy is highlighted, to ensure a safe and hospitable experience is provided for guests.
The Whistler Podcast, candid conversations about everything Whistler, With host Mayor Jack Crompton. Hello, everyone. Welcome to the Whistler Podcast. Thanks for joining us. I'm Jack Crompton. I'd like to acknowledge that we live, work and play on the traditional territories of the Lil'wat Nation and the Squamish Nation. I also want to thank Mountain FM for their support in producing the Whistler Podcast remotely during COVID-19, and hopefully getting in studio at some point soon. Today, I'm pleased to be speaking to MLA Jordan Sturdy. Jordan was reelected as a member of the legislative assembly for West Vancouver Sea to Sky in the 2017 provincial election. He currently serves as the official opposition critic for jobs and technology. Jordan served two terms. Was it two terms as Mayor of Pemberton?
Jordan Sturdy:Three actually. Almost three.
Mayor Jack Crompton:Three terms as the Mayor of Pemberton. Thank you, Jordan. And welcome.
Jordan Sturdy:Oh, thanks Jack. Pleasure to be here. I'll add that I'm also jobs, economic development and competitiveness.
Mayor Jack Crompton:You'd like your name changed?
Jordan Sturdy:Well, that's my current role. Competitiveness is in there too.
Mayor Jack Crompton:All right. I apologize for missing that. So you've lived in Pemberton it says here since 1989. Why the Sea to Sky, why Pemberton?
Jordan Sturdy:Climate and skiing, very much like everybody else. And at the time the mountain bikes were pretty rudimentary, so it wasn't a big mountain biking place, but it was all about the climbing and skiing. I started at Blackcomb as a Pro Patroller in 1989. It's all Arthur De Jong's fault.
Mayor Jack Crompton:Arthur De Jong got you to come to Whistler?
Jordan Sturdy:Well, no, he was the Patrol Manager of the day and he hired me. So it's all his fault.
Mayor Jack Crompton:And were you living in Pemberton right from the beginning?
Jordan Sturdy:Yeah, pretty much. I rented a mobile home on the farm that I now own actually. It was for sale for a year, maybe two years. My mom said, look, why don't you buy it? Nobody else seems to want it. And I sold the condominium in Vancouver and had a little bit of money. After a while, when you own a piece of farm land, if you don't farm it, it turns back into bush. And so we started a farm. And it actually worked out quite well because I do, uh, it, after a couple of years, I worked full time, year round on the mountain, but then we started growing crops and then we started farming summertime, patrolling wintertime, working a little bit of ambulance year round. So it was was nice. I can't imagine actually working, well, I'm beginning to re-imagine that or experience that. But for a long time working seasonally was something that was gratifying. And I had trouble imagining how to do a job 50 weeks a year and get my two weeks off.
Mayor Jack Crompton:Yeah. And as mentioned, you served three terms as the Mayor of Pemberton. How do you compare the work you did as mayor to the work that the current mayor is doing?
Jordan Sturdy:I did a way better job. No, it's an evolving community and evolving region. The work as the serving on the regional board, which is equally important, I think is something that has become more challenging. I think it's time goes on, and, g rowth and development demands take place. It is a more challenging role. Certainly. Now I think it e n deavor h as been that and, you know, a common theme and I'm sure you understand this as well as anybody, is th at w hen back in the mid two thousands, although social media was there, it wasn't of the same level of intensity that it is now, so that certainly has changed every politician's life.
Mayor Jack Crompton:Okay. So I'm going to move into Whistler news, and then Jordan and I will talk a little bit about what's happening in Whistler. So I want to start by saying on Tuesday, our CAO Virginia Cullin presented the RMOW COVID-19 reopening strategy. The RMOW has shifted our focus from emergency response to recovery and mitigation. So that means that there's parks and trails, that the village stroll that are open, and we're really encouraging people to ensure that those safety protocols that we've learned in the last three months really become a part of the way that we live and provide a tourism experience. Ms. Cullin also talked about the fact that the province is still in a state of emergency, and that requires that that commitment to safety remains in place. And I think will remain in place for a long time. Reopening plans will continue to depend on provincial guidelines, updates, and the reports that we get back from the provincial health officer, Dr. Henry. We're having a staged reopening in Whistler. Right now parks and trails, as I said, are open and we have park ambassadors out on the trails, helping people use them well. Municipal Hall upper floor has opened, and you can take books out of the library on a to go basis. We're calling it Library To Go. Recreation is going to start opening moving into July. Children's summer programs, open June 29th, and then outdoor fitness classes will begin. And then Meadow Park will have a slow staged opening through the summer, but some facilities may not actually open until October. So our main focus is safety, and ensuring that the experience is one that our community can engage in, in a safe manner. So that was a great update and really helped me understand, you know, where we're going as a community. The RMOW is also working on making digital access to information and input easier in a physically distanced manner. We had our first virtual public hearing on Tuesday when we looked at the Bayshore land use contract. We also have two private employee housing development applications that are currently open for public input until June 28th. That's 2077 Garibaldi Way in Nordic and 7104 Nancy Green Drive in White Gold. You can visit whistler.ca/ developmentinput to learn more about how to review materials, watch public hearings and submit feedback. On Tuesday, Council gave first and second readings, two 5298 Alta Lake road. There will be a public hearing on that development upcoming. It is a mix of WHA housing and market housing, both for sale. Tuesday was Mike Furey's last council meeting with the RMOW, as he retires at the end of June. Mike has done terrific work, and it was fitting that in our meeting, the last meeting that Mike participated in with the RMOW the OCP was adopted, which is a really big deal for our community. It's work that he's been working on for 10 years. A couple final announcements. Whistler Blackcomb is opening on June 29th, as we heard last week, the Squamish Lil'wat Cultural Center and the Audain Art Museum a re opening on June 26th. A nd all the golf courses in our community are open and operating. So get out there and enjoy all that was there has to offer. So Jordan, anything in that news that jumps out at y ou?
Jordan Sturdy:Well, it's certainly exciting that the mountains are opening. I guess the bike park is well on its way. And hopefully we can get back to some semblance of normal, although nothing is going to be normal for the foreseeable future. Seems to me.
Mayor Jack Crompton:Yeah, I agree. I mean, this summer will be really interesting to see, you know, there's this sort of expectation that British Colombians are going to travel in British Columbia. I'm hopeful that happens and I'm hopeful people stick around and spend time in communities, rather than sort of dip in and dip out and make visitation of BC communities something that they enjoy longer rather than quick touches and goes.
Jordan Sturdy:True enough. And, you know, people come from all around the world to come and visit us. And, it's not a b ad thing that we s pend a little bit more time exploring where we live ourselves. Y ou k now, we live in a great place and we should take advantage of it, c ause it is an amazing spot. And i t's got all sorts of things to do. Just like t o Sea to Sky, you know, every part of t he S ea to Sky, the w hole i s g reater t han the sum of its parts, right? Y eah. Squamish h as got stuff. Whistler has got stuff, Pemberton has got stuff, we're all a little bit different a nd better together.
Mayor Jack Crompton:Most people think of you as a farmer, but North Arm is very much engaged in tourism. I'm struck that you grow food, but really you welcome people, like you say, one of the Pemberton pieces of the puzzle that adds to the Sea to Sky is agritourism. How's your business, your tourism business been affected by the pandemic.
Jordan Sturdy:It's been surprisingly busy. Actually. I think people are really desperate to get out and do something, something safe, something that they can distance, something that is, natural and easy to access. So we found that certainly the last several weeks, and now that our strawberry patches open it's gone haywire. I don't think it's ever been busier in many respects, but we made a decision right from day one, Jack, that with our farm, with the size of our farm, that a wholesale commodity type operation was never going to work. And this was back in the days in the nineties too. So the access to the Sea to Sky was much more limited before the highway upgrade. You go to the city and it was a overnight trip. U h, people forget how, how much things have changed. So we made a decision right from the beginning that we were going to be a retail operation, which meant that we were an agritourism operation and we didn't even really understand what back then. I don't even know if it was a term that I'm dating myself here. I'm not that old, but I remember going to a conference, a P acific Northwest farm direct marketing association conference, and they had a cartoon or m icrofiche or, you know, those overhead projectors and up on t here was a cartoon. And upon that sc reen w i th a cartoon of a skinny little consumer and a skinny little farmer and a distributor with his hands in both of their pockets, and the whole theme was cut out the middleman and connect the consumer, t he farmer with the consumer. And we discovered that that was true that, t o try to s el l into the wholesale market, wasn't goin g to w or k and people really do want to better understand what agriculture is about, what farm s are like, and how things grow. It's been quite gratifying actually. And it's evolved over time to something that's a l ittle more than what it was.
Mayor Jack Crompton:And we've had rainy weekends. People want to come out on a farm in the rain.
Jordan Sturdy:Yeah, they have been, obviously it certainly dampens the enthusiasm, sunny days are better, but, you know, scorching hot days are not really exciting to people either. So it's actually been a very good spring. We've had enough rain that we haven't had to be irrigating constantly, although we have certainly been irrigating. And it's been a pretty good growing season so far.
Mayor Jack Crompton:We spoke on the phone last night, 9:30 at night, and you're out seeding carrots. Are you tourism by day sort of active agriculture by afternoon evening, or do the two things work together on a day to day?
Jordan Sturdy:Unfortunately, with agriculture, you know, the old saying, make hay while the sun shines. Well, what that means is that when the sun shining do the work, because once it starts raining, you can't make hay anymore. S o i t, t he, the idea of being able to align the necessity of farming with t he structure of a job doesn't particularly work. And, it's really frustrating at times when I mean, I have to work. And do you know what i t's b een like in the last couple o f months on Zoom constantly, getting in front of your computer and trying to connect with people on the phone and, it is what it is. So we've tried to just make it work or I've tried to just make it work, not entirely successful. Unfortunately, y ou k now, job comes first. And i'm fortunate, my d aughter's back in town. One of my daughters a nyway, i s back working the farm. And my wife has always been there in the last number of years. Without her, I wouldn't have an opportunity to serve. She's really stepping up as well. So it's coming together. Although I must say that just t he access to staff is continues to be challenged.
Mayor Jack Crompton:Yeah. It's an interesting time. As far as, you expect people are looking for work, but then it's a challenge to get actual people to work. Tell us about that.
Jordan Sturdy:Yeah. When we looked at CERB and the provincial contribution and the rental supplemented annualizes, it's$42,000 and I can't pay$42,000 to farm workers, it just doesn't work. So it has been challenging. I have staff that bump up with the CERB, and it's concerning. The bigger issue for us though, is that our seasonal agricultural workers, guys from Mexico that have been with me between 10 and 17 years, that coming back year after year after year, that depth of experience, I haven't had access to this year. I got one of my senior guys and none of the rest of them. Normally we have six guys in March, we've got three right now, two of which have never been here before, and they just arrived two weeks ago. So the challenge is that without understanding the infrastructure, the equipment, the systems, you're really training everybody. And you can't just put somebody on a seven foot rotovator with a 80 horsepower tractor, hope it's all gonna work out. It's that lack of experience is really challenging and has caused significant issues for us. So I think I mentioned to you last night, that one of the comments that the media tends to focus on not having enough staff or not having agricultural workers to harvest the crops. The challenge we're having is we've got to get the crops in the ground first. You gotta plant them. Cause if you don't plant them, you don't have to worry about harvesting them. And we'll be lucky to get even 70% of what we typically would plant in the ground. They just don't have the manpower. We don't have the experience. Don't have the time. We'll see what the impact of that are. In October, November, December, January. We normally have significant storage crops to sell over the course of the winter, to our restaurants and hotels that we serve up and down the corridor. But again, that comes back to what the market looks like, what is the future of the restaurant industry of our type of customer, because we sell these crazy carrots and Jerusalem artichokes, it's all fluffy and root parsley and all this stuff that you typically can't find easily. And so it's a bit exclusive or unique. But it's also the unique restaurant that serves that stuff. So what does the future of that industry look like in Whistler and Squamish and in Vancouver? And that remains a bit of a question.
Mayor Jack Crompton:I mean, generally you think about food security being a longer term thing, but do you think British Columbia food security is at risk as a result of the pandemic?
Jordan Sturdy:Well, it's a good question, but I think it needs some context in terms of what is in your mind, food security, because I'd say that typically in British Columbia, we produce more calories than we consume. If you want to just look out into the terms of total commodity crops, how many calories is that? You know, how many calories do we need to survive? And we do produce enough calories to feed ourselves, but it would be, it's a pretty bland diet. You know, so what does food security mean? And I've never really had a good answer to that question.
Mayor Jack Crompton:I would've thought access to food. And when you talk about 70% of your crop being at risk, I wonder if the big industrial food producers are dealing with the same challenges that your farm is?
Jordan Sturdy:Some yes, some no. You know, on the big grain farm, for example, canola, that sort of thing. A lot of this stuff is fairly automated, big equipment. We have a fairly labor intensive operation, vegetables and berries tend to be labor intensive. Some of the other commodity crops are much more mechanized. So it'll hard to say now that said, I know the Northeast has had a heck of a time weather wise this year. They really didn't get the crop off the ground last fall, ran into terrible weather. And then oftentimes they have an opportunity to harvest that crop in the spring, but it's been raining and snowing and terrible weather up there. So I think they lost a good chunk of their crop and then combined with the rail blockades a nd the lack of getting some of that crop into the international market and then the Chinese, i ssues around trade, C hina, all of this has come together to c reate s ome real challenges for agriculture across the province. But now does that a ffect our food security, effective viability of some of the farming operations, certainly so that indirectly can affect our food security. I d on't k now what it means though. Jack, I don't really know.
Mayor Jack Crompton:What's the definition of food security?
Jordan Sturdy:Well, that's a good question. I think we do have an international food system, and we can survive on, we grown up on Potatoes in Pemberton. To have everybody eat potatoes in the Sea to Sky for the next year. Not a problem. I'm not sure that that's anybody's definition of food security though.
Mayor Jack Crompton:Yeah. Avocados, we don't grow as many avocados.
Jordan Sturdy:Not so much. No. And can't forget having your strawberries in January now can you.
Mayor Jack Crompton:Here's the strawberry right there.
Jordan Sturdy:Well, that, that could be from my place. That is in season. Good for you, Jack.
Mayor Jack Crompton:So when you think about this region, you think about the region you represent and the new reality that we're walking into. How do you think we as a region, and I mean, I think I'm most interested in, as it relates to tourism need to respond. What's our response as a region as far as tourism is concerned.
Jordan Sturdy:Well, I suspect the summer's going to be relatively busy just because of our proximity to Vancouver. What we have to offer, people are going to be traveling internally. Um, I, I think we'll have, as long as the weather holds out, I think we'll have a strong summer, but we'll also, I'm imagining that the fall will be different. The fall will be 10 years ago type of fall that we're used to seeing in the region. And then, you know, we've seen the border closures, continue with the American border. That opening up of international travel, I think, as we understand is, is critical to our tourism economy in this region, especially. So, you know, I think we can only keep our fingers crossed that we can do a better job internationally in terms of managing this pandemic so that we do have an opportunity to open up air travel again, and to open up international travel. So international guests really are the ones that pay the bills in so many ways.
Mayor Jack Crompton:What do you think the, I mean, I guess I'll say from my perspective, the big request that I have as the mayor of Whistler at this point anyway, is the extension of the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy through 2021, especially if borders and air travel, remain as challenged as they are now. Do you see, I mean, first of all, do you think that that's a request that needs to be made and needs to be taken on by the federal government? And secondly, is there anything else that you think is critical to our response as governments?
Jordan Sturdy:Yeah, I certainly understand the need for supporting the tourism sector for a longer period of time. I see it in, you know, as I mentioned earlier, even with my operation, which is reliant on the restaurant and hotel industry all through the winter, we, as I said, have had strong visits over the course of the spring and anticipate a strong summer, but if we only get 60 or 70% of our crop in the ground and, next December, January, February don't have the same storage crops in our route house a nd t he s ame revenues stream, then maybe not those same type of visits that we're seeing right now, ou r s ituational change completely as well. So I certainly do understand the seasonality of things and the fact that while we may have a strong couple of m onths, hopefully will that give us the depth and the ability to recover and get the money in the bank, which is what th e c oncern is. Most businesses in th e Se a to Sky right now, because of ju st such little activity is taking place that, y o u know, we need to make some money so that we can cover the soft periods. And so I think that one of the risks is it will fin d that, co m panies that are currently eligible for the wage subsidy aren't necessarily eligible in September, October when we don't have the same kind of traffic numbers. So yeah, I would say that it's important there's an opportunity to, ha v e that support extended and for it to be flexible enough to reflect the seasonality of things. And the fact that people are a bit unde rwater rig ht now, and it's going to b e challenging to recover and then have the resources to get through the following off season.
Mayor Jack Crompton:Yeah. That seasonality piece is really important. It's a good point. So today you learned about how the legislature is going to work moving forward. How is the legislature going to work moving forward?
Jordan Sturdy:Well, it was interesting. We had a practice session today, all 87 members. well, not all of them. We had some stand in's there, but we went through our typical situation where we had statement by members and introduction of a couple of bills, practice votes and that sort of thing. And, it went pretty well actually, not without it's hiccup. At one point, there was a question of how many people actually did vote. I mean, we had 88 votes for 87 members, it was interesting and it's going to be challenging. Dr. Henry has limited the number of people that will have an opportunity to enter into the chamber. they've actually taken out most of the chairs i n the chamber. And, you won't be able to just wander in there anytime yo u w a nt t o b e sequestered in y our office or in your office, in your constituency. Travel is certainly a big challenge for some of the members. I mean, I think, t hey're sa ying o ut of Fort St. John there's one flight a week or something to that effect. So if you're a member who would typically fly down from the pi ece o r from PG or Prince Rupert or an y C atholic, the would come in on a Sunday night and leave on a Thursday night and then being in your constituency on Friday. When you're looking at one flight a week that doesn't work and you're clearly not driving from Fort St. John, not in a couple of days of travel. So, t here's clearly going to be many members who are going to be online and with the limitations that Dr. Henry's pl ace o n the chamber itself, i t wi ll b e a completely different place. So we really didn't have a chance to get into the back and forth. We didn't discuss bills. We're also going to be going into the estimates process where we're looking at the budget that was put in place or presented in February. And that budget typically is debated. And those debates are on each ministry's budget are complete sometime in May. And then there is the revenue in place to fund the government for the remainder of the, of that fiscal. That's going to be very interesting process because clearly all bets are off. Revenue has changed completely. We're hoping to see, like the federal government, a revised budget. But there's no indication that the province is going to do the same thing. Although that's certainly something we'd like to see happen. You know, what is the fiscal impact on the budgets of this province? And you know, where are we going to see some investments in order to get our economy back up and running, you know, in my case, certainly our case, great interest in what that tourism package may look like, if anything.
Mayor Jack Crompton:Absolutely. It's fascinating times.
Jordan Sturdy:So what do you think Jack beyond in terms of a provincial contribution to the tourist supporting the tourism sector?
Mayor Jack Crompton:I'm hopeful that the commitments that have been made to RMI MRT, those sort of fundamentals that keep the tourism economy in the province, moving in the right direction will remain in place and be made whole, I think that that would be a big deal for us as we move forward.
Jordan Sturdy:So that would be the like MRDT for example, the lack of revenue as a result of last three or four months would be replaced is what you'd hope to see.
Mayor Jack Crompton:Yeah. And especially as we look to sustain ourselves through a down period and then try to rebound and recover, I think there needs to be some investments, I've been talking about a war chest, money so that when we're back in competition globally, the Canadian tourism industry is able to take our gains that we have made by being a safe place and pair it with a real promotion of visitation. And our competition is not Big White or Tremblant, It is Colorado and Europe. And I think that we need to be able to pair the financial resources to compete with the successes that we are having as far as delivering safety. And one of the things that I'm finding most interesting now is what does it mean to provide a safe and hospitable tourism experience in this new world. I walked through some of the hotels and everybody has masks. What does it mean to be warm and welcoming from behind a mask? That's the new challenge for us? And one that I think I'm already seeing our community take on more with the success that we've had already.
Jordan Sturdy:So how does that manifest itself beyond the, if from a Canadian perspective or more specifically a BC perspective, beyond marketing? I think we will see this Canada will have a relatively good reputation internationally around our response and our ability to manage the virus. We're assuming of course, international borders open up again, international air travel starts happening, but, you know, beyond putting more money into tourism, Canada, or Destination BC, I suppose, what can we do?
Mayor Jack Crompton:I was talking to somebody who was talking about a program back in early eighties, which was a way for tourism communities to access infrastructure funding that would allow them to engage in tourism in a much stronger way. And that's how you had, you know, all of the infrastructure that we have in Whistler and, and other places across British Columbia. And I think that that kind of program would be a wise decision because, like you say, funding will be restrained as a result of not being able to actually host visitors. On the other side of this, I'd like to be able to do that in a way that was more effective. And the program was focused on growing tourism. And I think you're right. You can't just market a place. It needs to be a place where the people who work in the tourism industry are well supported and they love their work. You know, you don't want to visit a place where everybody is feeling like they're living paycheck to paycheck and can't, you know, enjoy life. And so I think we want to have, you know, burgeoning and growing community that's well supported by the infrastructure that we use to host the world is.
Jordan Sturdy:So this sounds more of, it sounds like, you know, additional investments in employee restricted housing, that sort of thing, you know, making a quality of life for people.
Mayor Jack Crompton:I mean, we've talked about it in the Whistler news piece, we've got a number of projects that are coming through. The problem is you get to a point where you've maxed out the resources you have to build that kind of housing and having the provincial or federal government step in, and really resource that in new ways will allow us to grow the tourism industry, which last year was the number one industry in the province. And I think that we want to get back to that place. I don't expect, unfortunately, the tourism industry will be as much a contributor to the provincial economy that we have been in the past. It will need resourcing to get back to that place for sure.
Jordan Sturdy:Would an investment or a reinvestment in the convention center be one of those ideas.
Mayor Jack Crompton:Yeah, absolutely. And that's one of the things that we've been talking a lot about is what does it mean to, I mean, I think conferences and conventions will be a different thing in the future.
Jordan Sturdy:Yeah.
Mayor Jack Crompton:They'll take resourcing whether it's an expansion or just really investing in how we do conferences moving forward. So interesting times, I mean, one of the things that's been so neat for me is just how closely we've been working with each other and working with the corridor mayors and working with our MP meeting every week is a pretty effective way of ensuring that we know what's happening in each other's jurisdictions. What a benefit that is to the community to develop from such a horrible and devastating event, is that something that really should have been happening and to be fair, you really have been pushing for a long time, results from something that's so terrible. So that connection government to government, I think, has been a real win that's come out of this.
Jordan Sturdy:Yeah, I agree. And just for the listeners, so they know what we're talking about is that, ever since this pandemic began, we have been zooming as a corridor elected officials, from all the jurisdictions, from the regional district, Squamish, Whistler, Pemberton, myself and Patrick Wheeler a s t he M P, either twice weekly or now we're at a w eekly just to share the announcements because they were coming fast and furious, and it was hard to keep up. But beyond that, what's going on in each community, what is the community feeling like? What are the challenges, what are the h otspots? Where are the opportunities, what are we missing? And having those weekly calls, w e've b een doing an hour, and I think we've all agreed that the future going forward. I think the joke was that after this pandemic, we should keep going. And then the question was, well, when did that ever going to end? But the idea that we should continue on, and now that we've all embraced t his technology, which I wasn't familiar with before, this is now our way of life in many respects. So it's a great opportunity for us to be better connected. W e can certainly work.
Mayor Jack Crompton:So do you have time to read or listen to podcasts or anything right now?
Jordan Sturdy:Actually yes. Well reading, reading, yes. Well, you know what it's like reading agendas and reading legislation and all that, all that exciting stuff, but, although albeit incredibly valuable. But if beyond that to try, when I have time to not focus on something that I have to do, generally it means that I'm seeding or I'm on a tractor or something like that at the farm. And so, I listen to podcasts all the time and lately I got a subscription to audible, so I now listen to books on tape as it were. That's a, that's an out of date term.
Mayor Jack Crompton:Has anything inspired you lately that you have listened to?
Jordan Sturdy:Well, some of it's, you know, honestly just to get away from the technical aspects of things. So I'm actually listening to Jane Eyre right now. I've never read Jane. So I thought I'd take that opportunity, we'll actually, I have two go on, I got Jane Eyre and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, neither of which I've ever I've ever read. Now I can contrast them.
Mayor Jack Crompton:You need to write a book on the other side of it that combines the two, sort of a remix.
Jordan Sturdy:Yeah. Well, there's a book out there somewhere. I'm sure.
Mayor Jack Crompton:Yeah. Well, Jordan, this was so interesting and thank you for sharing your insights around tourism and agriculture and where we're going as a region, and really thank you for your work you've you represent us well, and we're grateful for it.
Jordan Sturdy:Well, it's a pleasure working with you Jack, and I thank you for the opportunity to share some time on a podcast. We'll talk again soon.
Mayor Jack Crompton:I also want to thank Mountain FM for their continued support of the Whistler Podcast. Thanks for listening. Talk to you next time.
Narrator:You've been listening to the Whistler Podcast, candid conversations about everything, Whistler. To find out more about the Whistler Podcast, visit whistler.ca/whistlerpodcast.