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The Chair’s speech from the 119th Annual General Meeting of the Greater Sudbury Chamber of Commerce which took place on October 8, 2014.

Now I will say a few words about my role as chair for the 2014-2015 year.
I am proud to be Chair of this organization, an organization with 1000 members, representing over 45,000+ employees in the Greater Sudbury area. An organization that is the Voice of Business in Greater Sudbury and that advocates for the future of Sudbury business.

Advocacy means discussing with government new laws that affect busi-ness. Laws affecting business are made by all three levels of government. At the Federal level, Parliament makes tax laws, international trade and immigration, and specific laws like those affecting the Canada Jobs Grant and Temporary Foreign Workers, all affect business in Sudbury. At the Provincial level are a host of labour laws, laws affecting the generation and distribution of energy and its pricing, more tax laws, and now a proposed Ontario Pension Plan law that is being considered. And at the municipal level, laws affecting store hours, zoning, industrial lands, signage, and roads have a direct impact on how our businesses function.

At the recent Annual General Meeting of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce in Charlottetown, we heard that our counterparts in the Canadian Chamber have been successfully doing this in Ottawa. Perrin Beatty, the Canadian Chamber’s President and CEO, is able to open doors in Ottawa, and has the respect and admiration of Parliamentarians and senior bureaucrats who listen to the advocacy issues championed by the Chamber. These issues include ones that have their genesis at the Chamber’s Board Table on Elm Street.

At the Provincial level, our President and CEO Allan O’Dette and his team of policy analysts are also able to open doors at Queen’s Park. Their advocacy convinced the government that they should be considering the Ring of Fire as a project in the National interest, not just one that is in the interest of Northern Ontario. This perspective has assisted the Province to put pressure on the federal government to contribute to the cost of road and other infrastructure construction for this project. The Provincial Chamber is now working on the provincial government to discuss the concerns business has with the creation of a duplicative Ontario Pension Plan system.

At the local level, we must similarly foster relationships and ensure we have a seat at the table to discuss the interests of this municipality. As Chair of the Chamber of Commerce, it is a key part of my role to foster positive communications with the new Mayor, City Council and staff for the benefit of the City and its businesses.

This does not mean that the Chamber will always agree with the City, but means we should develop a good working relationship with them, ensuring that the relationship is one of trust and respect, and demonstrating that, in speaking for business, the Chamber will be informed and responsible. We will not criticize the City without full knowledge of the circumstances, nor will we refrain from criticism when the facts and circumstances justify it. We will advocate with the City for business, and ensure that the voice of business is heard.

The Chamber in the past year has, through its great staff led by Debbi Nicholson, its Board of Directors led by David Boyce, and its committees and task forces, been engaged in important debates affecting the community. It has:

• Taken a closer look at the Provinces plans to modernize and privatize casinos in the province. It listened to concerns of those who would not like to see casino expansion as well as those who have had successful casinos in their community. The Chamber, after hearing disparate views, has developed a position on casinos that it feels is in the best interests of the community.

• Through its Energy Task Force, looked at different ways in which the problem of energy prices can be addressed, and has taken the first steps to become involved with the development of a community energy plan.

• Taken a look at the structure of City Council, and invited debate in the community about whether wards should be realigned to better reflect existing communities and communities of interest, and whether “at large” councilors should be considered in addition to, or as a substitute for ward councilors.

• Launched a campaign to inform the public about the upcoming referendum on the deregulation of store hours. Through its Deregulation Committee led by former Chairs Andre Dumais and John Querney, this committee is spreading awareness and building momentum towards a successful vote in favour of deregulation of store hours. A vote that will convince or, if there is sufficient voter turnout, compel City council to dispense with antiquated by-laws that restrict business’ ability to set their own store hours.

• We facilitated debates prior to the recent provincial election and asked candidates their stance on important business issues.

• Held a Ring of Fire launch event alongside the OCC and CEMI to highlight the great economic potential of the Ring of Fire, not only for the North but for the province and country as a whole.

• The chamber also successfully passed important policy resolutions on both the federal and provincial levels at both the Canadian and Ontario Chamber AGMS on such issues as labour market information, employers’ role in immigration, skills development, energy competitiveness and experiential learning.

All this under the leadership of David Boyce, about whom I will say more later.
And what do we have planned for the coming year? Unlike in past years, where our task forces have looked at federal and provincial issues as well as local, we have decided that this year’s task forces will be focused on important issues affecting our City.

• We will be holding a debate amongst the candidates for the office of Mayor of this fine City on October 15 at the College Boreal Concert Hall.

• The deregulation vote will proceed on 27 October, 2014, and we will be monitoring the response of the new City Council to ensure it acts appropriately to implement the results of the referendum.
• We will be working with the City to ensure that funding is obtained so that the Maley Drive extension can be completed in a timely fashion, diverting trucks from a main thoroughfare in the City and improving the traffic congestion that plagues us as we travel across our City.

• We will be working at developing an appropriate role in the improvement of our downtown core for businesses in the community. While the School of Architecture and the revitalization of the farmers market, amongst other initiatives, are significant steps toward the creation of a vibrant downtown core, the work is not done. We look forward to working with dedicated community groups such as Downtown Sudbury, the Downtown Village Development Corporation and the City to advance Greater Sudbury as an attractive destination for business, tourism and residents.

• Many in this community think that the lack of convention centre space is a significant impediment to the community’s ability to attract new businesses to the community. Is this a community project that the Chamber should get behind? Are there other more worthy projects? A task force has been struck by your Board of Directors to determine the best answer to this question.

• And we will be monitoring developments with the Ring of Fire, to ensure that Sudbury plays a prominent role in the development of this project, and that Sudbury business gets every opportunity to participate.

These task forces have one common theme: economic development of our community.
Economic Development means attracting new business to the community. A community cannot grow without population growth. While Sudbury has maintained its population in recent years, we have seen little in the way of population growth. To achieve population growth, a community has to be innovative and daring in its decision making. And this decision making is primarily done for our community at City Hall. We need to challenge the candidates who are elected on October 26th to be daring, innovative and optimistic about the City’s future.

We would like to discuss with the City and the Greater Sudbury Develop-ment Corporation its role in the community, and how it might improve its successes in attracting business to the community. We would like to work with both partners to address the needs of our 1,000 business members.

Of the businesses represented by our Chamber, most of you are small businesses. Small businesses are the drivers of economic development. I would like to see us foster an improved climate for small business in the City of Greater Sudbury. We can do this by working with the City and the GSDC to make things easier for small business to be successful. We can do this by supporting projects that make the City of Greater Sudbury a more livable city, by bringing visitors to the City, showing them the many things the City has to offer, and encouraging them to stay. And we need you, as small business people, to get involved in these efforts. If through these efforts, we can make it a little easier to do business in Sudbury, more entrepreneurs will take the risk and turn their ideas into action, establish a small businesses and make them flourish, leading to growth in the economy, the population and the vibrancy of this City.

In closing, thank you for your continued support of the Greater Sudbury Chamber of Commerce. I encourage you to become involved in taskforces on issues that you are passionate about. I encourage you to get to know the members of the Board of Directors and to raise with them issues of concern to your business. We are here to help you, and will only be effective as the voice of business if we listen to your voice first.