Chamber Week: Getting Results for BC Business

Kelowna, BC - February 17, 2014, marks the beginning of Chamber of Commerce Week, an opportunity for Chambers of Commerce across British Columbia to showcase their hard work on behalf of business communities around the province.

This year, Chambers are celebrating the theme of “Leadership in Action” – a theme which highlights the leadership that the Chamber of Commerce brings to each of their business communities, working hard to enhance BC as a business-friendly jurisdiction with strong opportunities for all British Columbians.

This leadership delivers results. Just this month, BC’s Chamber network, working in partnership with the provincial government, was able to deliver a significant win for BC businesses. This win is key with business-friendly changes to a recycling regulation that had caused much concern in business communities around BC.

Thanks to the hard work of Chambers in BC, working closely with a responsive government, more than 99% of BC’s businesses will face no red tape or fees under this recycling regulation, which deals with packaging and printed paper.

That’s just one of many positive changes that the Chamber network has led for BC businesses. Among many areas of impact, BC’s Chambers have been a key voice:
•encouraging balanced budgets at all levels of government;
•calling for solutions to BC’s skills gap; and
•encouraging municipalities to actively support local economic development.

As members of the BC Chamber of Commerce, Chambers throughout the province are part of BC’s most extensive business policy development process. This process brings BC businesses’ innovative ideas and on-the-ground insights to BC’s decision makers, and helps shape an ever more business-friendly province. Chamber network policies span from fiscal and tax policy to infrastructure to industry-specific issues.

At the local level, Chambers throughout BC are catalysts for change, bringing together business and community leaders to figure out how to take each community forward.

Here in Kelowna, the Kelowna Chamber of Commerce has lobbied for changes to the Property Transfer Tax to be reflective of today’s housing prices and lower the cost to home purchasers, worked with other Okanagan Chambers to urge the Province to complete the business case for a national park in the South Okanagan, and locally participated in municipal planning processes relating to parking and lake access. We continue to work to reduce red tape and taxes for business at provincial and federal levels.

As BC celebrates Chamber Week, don’t miss the opportunity to swing by your local Chamber, join in on some Chamber Week events, and celebrate the leadership, energy and can-do attitude that BC’s Chambers bring to our communities.

Kelowna Chamber of Commerce, BC Chamber Week events:

•Monday, February 17: Chamber Open House: Kicking off B.C. Chamber Week
•Tuesday, February 18: Speaker Series - A Whole Person Approach to the Prevention and Treatment of Chronic Illness
•Wednesday, February 19: Chamber Breakfast Workshop - Resolving Disputes Quickly & Effectively: How Mediation can help your Business
•Thursday, February 20: Business After Hours - Hosted by Source Office Furnishings & Systems Ltd.
•Friday, February 21: Luncheon - Budget 2014 Exclusive: Luncheon with Premier Clark

For more information, visit www.kelownachamber.org/events

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For further details, please contact:

Caroline Grover
Chief Executive Officer
250-469-7356
caroline@kelownachamber.org