The Burlington Chamber of Commerce has earned a Chair’s Award from the Ontario Chamber of Commerce (OCC) for the second year in a row. The Burlington Chamber was recognized for their seminar series on the implementation of the Harmonized Sales Tax (HST). This year’s award was presented at the OCC Annual General Meeting & Convention in Toronto over the weekend.

The HST seminar series helped businesses transition to the new Harmonized Sales Tax. Five sector-specific workshops were held reaching over 450 companies. The series was a direct response to calls for help received by the Chamber about the implementation of the new HST.

“The Burlington Chamber of Commerce found a way to help its members with the transition to the new harmonized sales tax with the creation of the seminar series and therefore exemplified the leadership that companies are looking for,” said Len Crispino, President & CEO of the Ontario Chamber of Commerce.

Tamer Fahmi, Chair of the Burlington Chamber of Commerce elaborated, "We are very pleased to be recognized by the OCC for these seminars.  One of the Chamber's mandates is to provide education opportunities to help our members run their businesses better and the rollout of the HST was a case of new legislation that business owners didn't fully understand. Our seminars filled that information gap. We were proud to partner with BDO to put on the series and Rino Bellavia of BDO did an excellent job leading the seminars.”

The seminar series was very well received by members with most events running at full capacity. The seminars resulted in the renewal of many members and based on the success of the series; the Chamber received a Chair’s award the previous year for its development of a similar series focusing on helping members through the economic uncertainty.

The Chair’s Awards were among several awards presented to chambers for their leadership and innovative programs and services. The OCC Annual General Meeting and Convention is the main policy-setting conference of the chamber network in Ontario.

The Burlington Chamber of Commerce submitted two public policies (N-GTA Corridor, Workplace Mental Health) for ratification at the Ontario Chamber of Commerce (OCC) annual general meeting this past weekend. Both of the policies were adopted by the conference delegates making them official OCC policy.  The OCC will now lobby the Ontario government in an attempt to have the recommendations of the resolutions enacted.  The Chamber's submitted resolutions can be found on the Chamber Online Library.  You can also read the the full OCC Policy Book.

The Burlington Chamber of Commerce has earned a Chair's Award from the Ontario Chamber of Commerce (OCC) for the second year in a row. The Burlington Chamber was recognized for their seminar series on the implementation of the Harmonized Sales Tax (HST).  The HST seminar series helped businesses transition to the new Harmonized Sales Tax. Five sector-specific workshops were held reaching over 450 companies.  "The Burlington Chamber of Commerce found a way to help its members with the transition to the new harmonized sales tax with the creation of the seminar series and therefore exemplified the leadership that companies are looking for," said Len Crispino, President & CEO of the OCC.

We are very pleased to announce the Burlington Chamber has formed an exclusive partnership with the DeGroote School of Business to provide Executive Education opportunities to the Burlington business community.  This means that as a Burlington Chamber member you can get a $100 discount on executive business courses, workshops and conferences led by McMaster University's DeGroote School of Business right here in Burlington.  The DeGroote School of Business brings the education expertise and Chamber membership brings you the discounts.  The courses are listed on the Chamber's Events Calendar.