by admin | Jan 7, 2020 | Chamber Blog
Canadian Chamber of Commerce
Alita Fabiano – 10/12/2019
“The resiliency of Canada’s economy will be increasingly tested as trade conflicts and uncertainty persists. We are not an island. We are in a good position to cope with whatever comes our way,” announced Stephen Poloz, Governor of the Bank of Canada.
Canada’s economy is shifting into a lower gear. It’s losing steam as our growth engines sputter in the face of global uncertainty and competitive challenges.
So, what is in store for our economy as we head into a new year and a new decade? Find out in this month’s 5 Minutes for Business where we take stock of Canada’s economic performance and consider what the future might have in store for us!
Click here to read 5 Minutes for Business – Sluggish Growth: The New Normal for Canada.
What’s in Store for Canada and Burlington’s Economy?
Click here to read the 2020 Economic Outlook, Presented November 2019 by Josh Nye, Senior Economist at RBC.
by admin | Jun 17, 2019 | Chamber Blog
Not too long ago I wrote a blog about what
a Chamber of Commerce is and what it is not. Some of the questions that I got
after the blog was published were about advocacy. What is advocacy? How does
the Chamber do advocacy work? What difference does advocacy work make? These
are all good questions.
One of the mandates of the Chamber is to
represent the views of our members – to lobby all levels of government on
behalf of our members. This is advocacy. If our members think that legislation
needs to change to help them run their businesses better, the Chamber will
carry that view to government. When we take that opinion to government,
we are representing the views of thousands of businesses. That’s what gives our
voice power.
Local Chambers of Commerce (like Burlington
and Hamilton) speak with the collective voice of their members and, therefore,
the collective voice of the business community. That voice is amplified when we
speak at the provincial and federal levels. For issues that are provincial in
nature we speak through the Ontario Chamber which represents 160 Chambers and
60,000 companies across the province. This means the Ontario Chamber has a very
powerful voice with the provincial government. The provincial government
listens. The same thing happens at the federal level with the Canadian Chamber
of Commerce (CCC) which speaks on behalf of 450 local chambers and 200,000
businesses across the country.
I recently attended the CCC convention in
Charlottetown. At this convention the Burlington Chamber presented its climate
change policy. The policy was debated and voted on by the 310 delegates at the
conference. It was adopted by the CCC and now the CCC will lobby for
implementation of this policy by the Canadian government. That’s how advocacy
works at Chambers of Commerce. Policies are written by Chamber members at the
local level and delivered to governments at the municipal, provincial and
federal levels. These policies change the way government works; governments
change legislation based on these Chamber policies.
Recent examples include; creation of a CRA
liaison officer (a Burlington Chamber policy), elimination of the capital tax,
reduction of corporate income tax, reduction of corporate minimum tax,
reduction of the doctor shortage (another Burlington Chamber policy) – the list
goes on and on.
So, local Chambers represent the views
(i.e. advocate) on behalf of their members. We work to change legislation to
create a more business-friendly environment. Advocacy work is complicated and
takes time, but it does make a difference.
We don’t just have input, we have impact.
by admin | Jun 17, 2019 | Chamber Blog
I’ve been working at the Burlington Chamber of Commerce for about 15 years now and I’ve noticed a fairly common misperception about what a Chamber of Commerce actually is.
Often when I’m out at an event, someone will ask me what I do for a living. When I tell them, I work at the Chamber of Commerce, it’s not uncommon for them to respond with a remark about city hall; they think the Chamber is a department of the city and that the Chamber is paid for with city taxes. Nothing could be further from the truth. The Burlington Chamber of Commerce is NOT a department of city hall, nor does it get any funding from city hall. The Chamber is a fully independent, non-profit business association. All of the Chamber’s funds come from membership dues and other activities (like many of the events that we host). Simply stated, your tax dollars do not fund the Chamber of Commerce.
As a matter of fact, Chamber by-laws do not permit any elected officials to sit on our Board of Directors (Board members must step down if they decide to run for office). This eliminates any conflicts of interest that could arise when the Chamber Board discusses policies that will be delivered to various levels of government. While the Chamber is not a part of city hall, we do work with city hall on behalf of our members. Our job is to act as an advocate for our members and represent our members’ views and needs to government; that is the extent of our relationship with city hall (and all levels of government). The role of the Burlington Chamber is to make Burlington a better place to live and work.
The separation between the city and the Chamber of Commerce is clear. They are two distinct organizations, each with its own mandate. The Chamber of Commerce is a completely separate entity from the city and exists solely to support the needs of its members.
