Chamber wins Provincial Advocacy Award and Successfully Passes Policy
(Greater Sudbury, May 5, 2015) Last week Sudbury chamber delegates had an exciting few days at the 2015 Ontario Chamber of Commerce (OCC) Annual General Meeting that took place in Cornwall from April 30-May 3. Over the course of three days the chamber listened to engaging presentations by government officials such as the Premier and opposition Leaders, as well as specialists in economics, public affairs and leadership.
The chamber also participated in a plenary session where policy resolutions were debated and voted on. We are pleased to report that all four of our policy resolutions were successfully passed and have now become official policy of the OCC. The chamber advanced resolutions on topics such as pension reform, labour market information, WSIB and card-based certification in construction workplaces. Links to our resolutions can be found below.
The chamber was also honoured to have received the 2015 Advocacy Award at the AGM for our efforts in advocacy and for our work on the deregulation of store hours file.Last year in the lead up to the 2014 municipal referendum, the chamber registered as a campaigner and launched a simultaneous education and fundraising campaign through the leadership of its Deregulation Committee to advocate for business choice and the removal of by-laws restricting store hours in the community.
“We are honoured that the OCC has recognized our advocacy work at the provincial level,” says Geoff Jeffery, Chair of the Board, Greater Sudbury Chamber of Commerce. “This is really a testament of how engaged our members and the Sudbury public are in advocacy and policy issues in the community. We look at this award as motivation to do even better next year in providing value added benefits to our members in terms of our policy work.”
“This is an example of how chambers of commerce are leading discussions around policy in their respective communities,” adds Jeffery.
The Advocacy Award is one of two awards presented to chambers of commerce for excellence in leadership and delivery of impactful innovative programs and services.
The chamber thanks all our members for their continued support and engagement in the chamber’s advocacy work.
You can read our policy resolutions here:
- Reconsider Approach to Addressing Ontario’s Retirement Savings Problem
- Strengthening Labour Market Information for Business Competitiveness
- Increasing Democracy and Promoting Entrepreneurism in Small Construction Workplaces
- WSIB Reforms for a New Generation
We also co-sponsored on two resolutions with the Timmins and Thunder Bay Chambers of Commerce:
From left to right: Liam McGuinty, Interim VP Policy & Government Relations, Geoff Jeffery, Chair of the Board, GSCC, Joyce Mankarios, Policy & Communications Manager, GSCC, Karen Hourtovenko, Vice-Chair of the Board, GSCC, Debbi Nicholson, President & CEO, GSCC, Allan O’Dette, President & CEO, OCC and Anne Bowman, OCC Chair.
For more information:
Joyce Mankarios
Greater Sudbury Chamber of Commerce
Policy and Communications Manager
705-673-7133 ext 224