UPCOMING
SPECIAL EVENTS
BUSINESS
EDUCATION SEMINARS
Look
for details of all Chamber seminars on the Seminars
page.
BUSINESS
AWARDS GALA - May 8
The
Chamber of Commerce Business Awards Gala is being held on May 8 at the
Burlington Convention Centre. The Business Awards Gala sees the
presentation of the Chamber of Commerce Business Excellence Awards, the
BEDC High-Five Awards Tourism Burlington's Ambassador Awards and Mayor
Cam Jackson's Community Service Awards. Click
here for details.
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PAST CHAIR'S GOLF TOURNAMENT -
June 19
The 2008 Past Chair's Golf Tournament is being played on June 19 at the
very popular (and golfer friendly) Carlisle Golf & Country Club.
Last year's tournament was so popular that we had to
open an extra nine holes to accommodate all the extra golfers -- and the
tournament was still finished in record time! The Chamber
tournament is a great day of networking that includes golf, cart, lunch,
dinner and prizes.
Click here
for details.
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RECENT
SPECIAL EVENTS
BURLINGTON
BUSINESS SUMMIT
 |
Sam Baio
President & CEO
West 49 Inc. |
Our
Story, Our Burlington. On April 16
Team
Burlington hosted an exciting networking
breakfast with keynote speaker Sam Baio, CEO and President of West 49
Inc. West 49 Inc. is a multi-banner specialty retailer of apparel,
footwear and accessories related to skateboarding, snowboarding,
surfing, and the music industry. CEO and President Sam Baio
is a transplanted American from Buffalo, who moved to St. Catharines in
1974 and has been skating since the 60s. With their head office in
Burlington, West 49 Inc. operates over 130 stores in nine provinces.
Since 1995, the company has donated more than $400,000 to schools,
community events, charity organizations and skate parks across Canada.
West 49 Inc. has a world-renowned professional skateboard team, sponsors
over 150 amateur athletes and holds Eastern Canada’s largest
skateboard competition, the West 49 Canadian Open World Cup.
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2008
ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING & VOLUNTEER APPRECIATION RECEPTION
More than seventy
people attended the Chamber’s sixty-first Annual General Meeting which was held on
April 2 at the Holiday Inn Burlington Hotel & Conference Centre. Highlights of the meeting included introduction of the new
Board of
Directors and Executive Council, approval of the Chamber’s
2007
financial statements, approval of the 2007 AGM minutes and the appointment
Deloitte as the Chamber’s
auditor for 2008. Immediately following the AGM the Chamber held its Volunteer
Appreciation Reception. This event, coordinated by the
Membership
Committee, was held to thank those Chamber members who sat on various
committees throughout the year. Volunteers were treated to dinner and
drinks. Each committee chair made a short presentation of the
accomplishments of his or her committee and presented everyone on the
committee with a certificate and a gift.
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ECONOMIC
FORECAST PANEL 2008 - January 30
The
Chamber's annual Economic Forecast Panel was held on January 30, 2008.
What separates the Chamber Economic Forecast from all others is
the unique makeup of our panel. Our 2008 panel consisted of an
economist (Paul Ferley, Assistant Chief Economist with RBC) and a
statistician (Doug Newson, Director Central Region with Statistics
Canada). Both of this year's panelists proved to be very
informative and very entertaining. Much of the information
presented by the panelists supported the views expressed by Chamber
members in our Economy in 2008 survey. This event was proudly
sponsored by RBC Royal Bank.
Highlights
from our speakers' presentations include:
- we
will soon have more seniors than children in Canada
- 30%
of Burlingtonians were born outside the country
- Average
family income for Burlingtonians is approximately $85,000.
This is much higher than the national average
- Canada's
GDP will continue to fall in 2008 and should turn around in
2009
- interest
rate will be cut aggressively to about 3% in 2008
- the
dollar will drop to about 95 cents in 2008
Click
here to see Paul Ferley's presentation.
Click
here to see Doug Newson's presentation.
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CHINA
FORUM - BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES AND CHALLENGES - November 1
On
November 1, the Burlington Chamber partnered with three other local
Chambers (Brantford-Brant,
Hamilton
and Oakville)
to host the premier China business education event of the year.
The China Forum featured a breakfast keynote address by Lu Shumin,
China's Ambassador to Canada. The rest of the day featured
speakers who are experts with
experience in doing business in China and included bankers, accountants,
lawyers and business leaders. Over 150 people attended, some
coming from as far as Toronto, to learn from the experts. The
presentations were so informative and popular that there were several requests for
copies of the slides; the links in the table below provide access to
these presentations..
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60th
ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION - October 17
The
Chamber's 60th Anniversary Celebration was a great success. A
crowd of 300 Chamber members attended this special event recognizing the
Chamber's long history of supporting the business community in
Burlington. The event highlighted the contributions of long time
Chamber members and volunteers. Four sustaining
members were recognized (Brant Electric, Royal Bank, Bush's Men's
Wear and Wardell Insurance) and each was presented with a book of
historic pictures of Burlington. Each of these companies has been
a member of the Chamber since 1956 when the Chamber incorporated.
There were 25 Past Presidents and Past Chairs in attendance
(representing every decade from the 1960s to the 2000s) and all were
recognized and presented with a special lapel name tag. In
addition to the formal agenda, guests were treated to a special Chamber
milestone slideshow, a historic photo gallery, 1940s music and a
gift. In recognition of our long and supportive relationship,
Tourism Burlington and the The Burlington Hotel Association presented
the Chamber with a cheque for $5,000 for the Business
Student Scholarship Fund; this brings the fund to $87,000, very
close to our goal
of $100,000. Thank you to our hosts, the Burlington Art Centre and
Pepperwoods Catering, and thank you to our sponsors Bell Canada, P.V.
& V. Insurance Centre, The Art of Marketing and Excel
Advertising. CELEBRATING MEMBERSHIP SINCE 1947.
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LUNCHEON
WITH FINANCE MINISTER JIM FLAHERTY - October 12
On
October 12, the Chamber hosted a large crowd of Burlington business
leaders at a special luncheon featuring keynote speaker Federal Finance
Minister Jim Flaherty. Attendees came from as far as Toronto to
hear Mr. Flaherty. In his presentation, the Finance Minister
outlined the current state of the Canadian economy, Canada's leadership
in natural resources production, the accomplishments of the government
over the past 19 months, fiscal balance, upcoming challenges and Canada's
long term economic plan (Advantage Canada). He also discussed
infrastructure, public-private partnerships and labour issues. The
event provided an excellent opportunity to entertain clients and many
stayed well after the speech to make new business contacts. Click
here to read Mr. Flaherty's speech. The Chamber thanks Mike
Wallace MP for helping to make this special event possible. This event was proudly
sponsored by AIC Limited.
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PROVINCIAL
CANDIDATES MEETING - October 3
With
the provincial election coming up October 10, the Chamber held a Provincial
Candidates Meeting on October 3. Candidates from the four major parties
in both Halton and Burlington ridings answered questions from the
audience on health care, education, taxation and many other
issues. A representative of Elections Ontario was present to
answer questions about the referendum on Mixed Member Proportional
electoral system. This event was proudly sponsored by Hilton
Garden Inn.
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MAYOR'S
STATE OF THE CITY ADDRESS
On
October 2, 2007, Mayor Cam Jackson delivered his inaugural State of the
City Address to a sold out crowd of Burlington business leaders.
In his speech Mayor Jackson outlined the city's accomplishments of the past year.
He devoted the majority of his speech to outlining the city's priorities for the
upcoming year. These priorities include:
-
being
responsive to the community
-
developing
our economy
-
ensuring
environmental stewardship
-
managing
our financial matters
-
focusing
on transportation
-
governing
at the highest standards
-
managing
growth
Mayor
Jackson also gave an update on several high-profile city projects
include the McMaster Burlington Campus, the Burlington Art Centre,
Burlington Hydro and hiring a new city Manager. Click
here to read the State of the City Address. Thank you to our
sponsors for this event: Bell Canada, Burlington Youth Soccer Club,
CMA Canada Certified Management Accountants and Scotiabank.
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PAST PRESIDENT'S GOLF TOURNAMENT
The Chamber Past Chair's Golf Tournament was
the largest ever. Get all the details on
our Golf Tournament web page.
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BUSINESS
AWARDS GALA
The
winners of the 2006 Business Excellence Awards were announce at the 2007
Chamber Business Awards Gala on May 10. Go to our Gala
page for details and photos.
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Click
here to read about more of our recent special events.
