Chair's Letter

By working together, we continue to make our region the best place in the world to live, play and do business.

We recently concluded another successful cruising season on the Great Lakes. Regional ports welcomed more than 140,000 cruise passenger visits this year. The regional economic impact generated by cruising surpassed US$200 million, a remarkable increase of nearly 50% compared to 2022.

Our region continues to make rapid progress toward our goal of planting 250 million trees by 2033 thanks to new partners. For example, The Battery Show in Detroit participated in GSGP’s Great Lakes Green Events program and hosted a volunteer event with The Greening of Detroit. Consumers Energy is a supporting partner of GSGP’s Trees Initiative and worked with us and the city of Zilwaukee on a recent tree planting event.

GSGP recently led a group of Great Lakes fisheries experts to Iceland where they learned from counterparts who are successfully operationalizing 100% fish strategies. These strategies productively use the entire fish to create jobs, promote economic development, and improve the sustainability of fisheries.

One year from now, Premier Legault will host GSGP’s next Leadership Summit in Québec City. We look forward to celebrating these successes and more to come while launching our forward-looking Agenda for Growth. Thank you for your continued partnership.

Gretchen Whitmer
Chair, Great Lakes St. Lawrence Governors & Premiers 
Governor, State of Michigan