Montana's Steve Bullock is entertaining his fellow chief executives in Whitefish this week at the Western Governors Association meeting at the Lodge at Whitefish Lake.

Spokesman for the Western Governors Association, Joe Rassenfoss said Bullock kicked off the event on Monday.

"Our chairman, Montana Governor Steve Bullock has really put together a terrific meeting," Rassenfoss began. "We've hit a lot of topics that I think are significant both in the region and the nation. The opening round table connecting Canada and the West featured Premiere Brad Wall of Saskatchewan and the Canadian Ambassador David McNaughten. They talked about NAFTA, softwood lumber, trade and technology."

Rassenfoss said one of the most fascinating speakers was political pollster Frank Luntz.

"He (Luntz) talked about what things were working and not working, and told the governors that because of their nonpartisan work together and their collaboration together, 'you are our best hope'," he said. "Governor Bullock spoke of his 'Chairman's Initiative' called the National Forest and Rangelands management Initiative and issued a report with a series of recommendations about how we can do a better job of caring for our environment "

The keynote speaker on Tuesday was Whitefish native, former Montana Congressman and now U.S. Interior secretary, Ryan Zinke, followed by what Rassenfoss said was a 'fun roundtable' called 'Brewing up an Economic Force', featuring prominent members of the brewery industry in Montana.

On Wednesday, Rassenfoss said the main speaker would be actor Jeff Bridges, who spends a lot of time in Montana, himself.

"He's a hunger activist and the national spokesman for 'No Kid Hungry'," he said. "Also tomorrow, the governors will have a candid conversation about infrastructure and what help may be available from the federal government. To close out the meeting, we'll bring in  our new chair Dennis Daugaard of South Dakota and he will talk about his proposed central initiative which will be workforce development."

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