A delegation from Belleville city council and staff. along with other residents. received a warm welcome from officials in Belleville’s twin city
of Lahr Germany this week.
Mayor Neil Ellis tells Quinte News the group, which includes councillors Lisa-Anne Chatten, Garnet Thompson, Chris Malette, Barb Enright-Miller, and CAO Rod Bovay have been taken on a tour of the former Canadian Air Force Base in Lahr, now being transformed into a big industrial and commercial hub.
A visit has also been made to the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France where agricultural challenges in a time of climate change were discussed.
More recently the group toured tunnel boring company Herrenknecht.
Mayor Neil Ellis stands in front of a “mole” or tunnel boring machine at German company Herrenkneght. (Photo: supplied)
So called “Friendship Flights” between Lahr and Belleville began 50 years ago in 1972, springing from the fact there
were frequent flights between CFB Trenton and Canadian Forces Station Lahr.
Mayor Ellis says preliminary discussions are already underway with the Oberburgermeister of Lahr Markus Ibert and others
about a visit to Belleville by a delegation from Germany in the not too distant future.
Everyone in Belleville’s delegation is paying for the trip out of their own pockets.
