Maple Ridge Mayor Dan Ruimy has just returned from the Smart City Summit and Expo in Taiwan.
Jet-lagged and getting trolled in social media over the cost of the excursion on Monday, he wanted taxpayers to know he took the trip on his own dime.
The event was shared between the cities of Taipei and Koahsiung, with a focus on digital and green initiatives, and a goal of reaching net zero emissions by 2050. Ruimy was invited late last year, along with other city leaders and stakeholders from around the world – 32 countries and 150 municipalities were represented. Brandon, Manitoba and Stratford, Ontario were other Canadian cities whose officials attended.
“It was a great experience to see what other cities are doing,” said Ruimy.
He saw how Taiwan is making greater use of artificial intelligence and facial recognition technology at Asia’s largest smart city trade show. He saw an effort to use drones to help predict where wildfires will break out. He learned about initiatives to accurately measure whether greenhouse gas reduction targets are being met.
Ruimy also offered a presentation about energy transition, speaking about electric vehicles and carbon reduction.
The mayor visited the Taipei economic development office, and toured the facilities where E-One Moli Energy Corp – which works in both countries – manufactures its Molicel lithium-ion batteries. Late last year, Moli received senior government funding to assist in the $1 billion expansion of its plant in Maple Ridge.
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He gained a greater appreciation of the company that will soon be his city’s largest private-sector employer.
“We’re dealing with a company that’s one of the tops in batteries in the world,” said Ruimy.
He received a two-hour tour of the Asian plant that he described as “immaculate.” He noted Moli plans to use a local workforce for the 350 new positions in Maple Ridge, and it is hoped that the expanded Canadian plant will be operational by 2027.
Ruimy also met with the Taiwan minister of health, who spoke about addiction and the number of addicted people on the streets.
Ruimy said he did not put the trip on his city expense account, and he declined offers by Taiwan companies to have it covered.
“I didn’t want to put the city on the hook,” he said. “I thought it was important to be there, so I paid for the trip myself.”
Ruimy said he hopes the city can host business people from Taiwan in Maple Ridge in the future.
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