Chamber News

 Lisa Comerford, Belleville Chamber Vice-President and Chair of the Government Affairs Committee - COMMITTEE REPORT

Lisa Comerford, Vice-Chair of the BCC Board of Directors and Chair of the Government Affairs committee and VP Government Relations for the Central Lakes Association of Realtors presented the following update:

As part of our newly drafted Strategic Plan, the BCC will be focused on how they can effectively represent the needs of their members at all levels of government.  Municipally, we enjoy open lines of communication and we work well together on supporting business.  It is a large part of why the Belleville Chamber has also been pressing the Ontario Chamber to take a more active role in advocating for solutions to combat mental health and addictions crises faced across multiple communities in the province.

Provincially, we are working on a couple of initiatives that have come forward through a variety of channels, as we’ve been part of some key information gathering opportunities including member related issues and a Round-table discussion with the Office of the Honourable Nina Tangri, Associate Minister of Small Business, Ministry of Economic Development, Job Creation, and Trade that took place in early December.

In an effort to expand our advocacy support for our members, the Chamber has developed a portal where you can easily ask us to investigate an issue – where we will take the problem, see how widespread it is either among your sector or across the membership and then work it up through the Government Affairs committee to the Board.  ACCESS THIS PORTAL at https://bellevillechamber.ca/advocacy 

There is a fairly streamlined process for providing letters of support, and we want to make it as easy as possible for each of our members to leverage the network of influence through the Ontario and Canadian Chambers of Commerce.

Our attention is focused on the February 7^th deadline to submit Policy Resolutions for the Ontario Chamber of Commerce and key issues on our radar now

• Roundabouts and their impact on community safety, sustainability and economic growth
• Creating a portal for provincial grants – an issue raised by the Minister’s office and noted by the lack of response to certain funding opportunities.  The provincial process is burdensome, exclusive and reporting requirements can be extensive.

Supply Ontario is also presenting challenges within the provincial procurement process for both suppliers and public sector organizations like Loyalist College and Quinte Health that limits their ability to purchase locally.  There is an existing resolution with recommendations so we are looking into how to escalate that conversation at the provincial level with the support of the OCC.

The Belleville Chamber is also working with other chambers as part of a Social Action Working Group, an ad hoc committee of sorts putting together a case for the OCC that demonstrates community safety issues, particularly those connected to mental health/addiction have an economic impact.

We do have a very quick survey  – and through our other Chamber network partners – to collect some preliminary data on the extent of the issue in a variety of communities. 

Take the survey now

Further to that, we are working with Loyalist College on a funded research project to provide an environmental scan of initiatives being supported within communities across Ontario and provide a comparative analysis of who are doing similar things, methods of collaboration, how it is being delivered and what unique initiatives may also be effective.

Ultimately, we’d like to demonstrate a basis for successful intervention and programs the province should be funding – beyond a singular approach that seems to be the major concern of communities applying for HART funding – as it’s being called this round.

Finally, with all of the political discussion going on – we are starting with our first “Cabin Chat” with MP Ryan Williams scheduled for next Wednesday.  The link to register is open  until Friday and schedules will be sent out on Monday – we’d like to give you as much time as we can but where we can match similar sectors/issues together, we will all learn together.  These conversations will also help support our work towards the Canadian Chamber policy resolution process that is due by June. http://business.bellevillechamber.ca/events/details/cabin-chat-mp-ryan-williams 

If you have questions or would like to discuss any of these issues in greater detail, please contact Chamber CEO, Jill Raycroft at jill@bellevillechamber.ca