KEY POINTS:
Look out, Auckland. Christchurch is not content with poaching your flower show, it's eyeing up your best and brightest people too.
New Christchurch mayor Bob Parker, better known to many as the former host of the television show This is Your Life, is riding a wave of optimism after bringing the Ellerslie International Flower Show south, and has big ambitions to turn Christchurch into a true metropolis worthy of attracting disenchanted Aucklanders.
"The Ellerslie Flower Show is our way of saying 'we are a force to be reckoned with. Don't write us off up there in the north as this distant southern town'," Parker says.
"At the moment, we do think there is also an opportunity for us to harvest some of the discontent in Auckland caused by the lack of appropriate infrastructure, the traffic and I would suspect a number of other areas which will become apparent in the years to come."
You certainly couldn't ask for a more enthusiastic cheerleader for a city. Confident and articulate, the 54-year-old reels off countless reasons to back his claim Christchurch is the country's best city in which to live.
Aside from his days in broadcasting, and a stint as mayor of the sparsely populated Banks Peninsula district (now swallowed up into Christchurch city), Parker has also been shaped by challenges in his own life.
He struggled with alcohol and binge drinking in his 30s while working as a broadcaster, but now says it was "the best thing that's ever happened to me".
"The lowest point was probably looking at the impact my behaviour was having on my family."
He spent six weeks at an alcohol treatment centre, and has not had a drink for about 20 years.
Among Parker's visions for Christchurch is turning the cold winter into a plus. He envisages an ice rink in the city centre to capitalise on the proximity to "one of the great alpine regions on the planet" - the Southern Alps.
"You can stay here and drive to the skifields, before breakfast, and then come back again early afternoon for a nice warm latte in the middle of downtown Christchurch."
He is pushing urban regeneration, and light rail is also high on his agenda to ensure the growing city is not plagued by the congestion problems that afflict Aucklanders. Parker does not think the new improved Christchurch will need to poach talented Aucklanders. He thinks they will come of their own accord.
"We are welcoming with open arms the rest of the country to take a good look at what you can get out of this city. We know we will be judged favourably."
BLOOM-TIME IN AUTUMN
The Ellerslie International Flower Show looks likely to become a late-summer or autumn event as the new hosts seek to maximise its pulling power.
The Christchurch City Council, which has bought the show for an undisclosed sum and taken it south, is meeting stakeholders in a week to discuss whether to keep it in its traditional slot in November or to shift it to late February or early March.
Christchurch Mayor Bob Parker said: "My personal feeling tends to favour the autumnal approach, but I have got an open mind.
"We are looking at a whole number of variables, including sponsors."
The concern about keeping it in November is that this is also the time of Christchurch's big Cup and Show Week carnival which dominates peoples' interest.
Mr Parker said it was possible the flower show could complement the carnival week, but there was also a risk of it not having "the same currency".
Christchurch gardens tended to be at their best in late summer-autumn.
"The (Ellerslie) brand needs to be elevated to the highest possible level."
Mr Parker said he understood the show organisers also liked the idea of a February-March time slot.
Show organiser David Mee said feedback from most garden industry figures was that late summer was the most suitable time for the event in Christchurch.
"From a horticultural perspective there is better plant material and flowers to have."
Consultation within the industry will continue for another week or 10 days.
