Issues and Updates
Western GTA Summit: Are we in economic gridlock?
The $2 Billion Question: GTHA Business Opinion on Funding the Big Move
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2013 Advocacy Survey
Cdn Chamber 2013 Federal Budget Analysis
OCC 2013 Provincial Pre-Budget Submission
Oakville Transit Update 2013
Canada's Anti-Spam Legislation (CASL)
As part of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce network, the Oakville Chamber announced a major advocacy initiative focused on harnessing the power of business and public policy to address the key barriers to Canada’s competitiveness and our national prosperity.
Phasing out the Penny Information Sheet
MPAC's Roles and Responsibilities
Emerging Stronger 2013 is an economic agenda for Ontario developed by business, the chamber network, a leading think tank and a leading market research firm.
View Emerging Stronger 2013
Listen to Chamber President John Sawyer's interview on CHML AM900
The Kerr Village BIA has coordinated an information session with Lenny DelMedico from the Municipal Property Assessment Corporation (MPAC) and Erica Roberts from the Town of Oakville, Revenue and Taxation. This session will be an opportunity to discuss the 2012 property assessment notices generated by MPAC for commercial property. There will be a presentation by MPAC followed by a Q&A session.
Date: Wednesday, February 6th, 2013
Time: 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.
Location: Trafalgar Room, Town of Oakville, 1225 Trafalgar Road
As space is limited, if you plan to attend, please RSVP to info@kerrvillage.ca or 905-849-8865.
To ensure all questions are answered, please forward in advance any specific questions you may have to info@kerrvillage.ca.
Kerr Village BIA businesses, please feel free to forward this notice to your landlord.
Regards,
Richard Messer
Executive Director
Kerr Village BIA
Tel: 905-849-8865
Fax: 905-849-1399
"Find Yourself in Kerr Village"
Harnessing policy power in the chamber network
Chambers of commerce were connecting people and creating opportunities several centuries before Twitter and LinkedIn came on the scene. Indeed, chambers are the original social network. And one of the longstanding strengths of chambers is found in their ability to collaborate on policy issues with broad socio-economic relevance.
This spirit of connection and collaboration was alive and well in our recent meeting with Josh Hjartarson, vice president of Policy and Government Relations at the Ontario Chamber of Commerce (OCC). We hosted Josh at our Government Relations and Advocacy (GR&A) Committee, a standing chamber committee comprising senior representatives of member firms who work in policy-related positions in their respective organizations.
We talked about a number of province-wide policy issues in our GR&A meeting – issues such as transportation, air quality, health care, taxation and productivity that resonate on many levels.
The framework of our discussion was an excellent position paper from the OCC called “Emerging Stronger – A Transformative Agenda for Ontario”. This paper – an update to which is due out later this month – outlines five priorities to drive Ontario’s future prosperity:
1. Foster a culture of innovation and risk taking to increase productivity;
2. Build a 21st century workforce through training and immigration;
3. Restore the province’s fiscal balance by improving how government works;
4. Take full advantage of new opportunities in the global economy;
5. Identify and support Ontario’s competitive advantages.
1. Foster a culture of innovation and risk taking to increase productivity;
2. Build a 21st century workforce through training and immigration;
3. Restore the province’s fiscal balance by improving how government works;
4. Take full advantage of new opportunities in the global economy;
5. Identify and support Ontario’s competitive advantages.
Success in any one of these priority areas will help Ontario – once a primary driver of Canadian prosperity – regain its leadership in creating jobs and wealth in our province. Success in all of them will ensure it.
We have the resources here in Oakville to help make that happen.
Consider how many head offices of industry-leading organizations are based in Oakville – approximately 360.
Consider the vibrancy of local entrepreneurship.
Consider the depth and breadth of our local talent pool.
And consider the physical and service-oriented infrastructure that we have in Oakville.
While our local business community has a lot to offer employers, residents, visitors and governments, we also have a lot to offer in showing leadership within a transitioning province.
Members of Ontario and Oakville’s business communities can work together in helping to “harvest the gains”, as Josh said, of our collective advantages. That includes collaborating on policy development, as chambers do on behalf of members from various sectors and of various sizes.
This meeting, in turn, highlights aspects of the policymaking process within the chamber network – whether that takes place at the local level or in coordination among several levels. Namely:
1. Advocacy and engagement are mutually reinforcing – The more chamber members engage in policy discussions the more chamber staff can articulate and advocate policies that reflect members’ needs within the context of economic conditions and political considerations. We need to hear from you in order to help you.
2. Constantly take the temperature – There’s more smoke than fire to some policy issues, especially as the initial embers are cooling. That means chamber staff have to take the temperature on any given issue from a number of angles in assessing whether it should be a high priority, and for how long.
3. Embrace a broad perspective – A sound policy takes different perspectives into account, especially those that may be counter to one’s own perspective. In other words, you have to understand the policy motivators of those involved in order to influence – and learn from – other stakeholders. It’s a two-way street.
So to all of our members, please get in touch with us the next time you have a policy issue. We can talk about it locally and also, when appropriate, leverage the broader chamber network.
And if you want to follow us on Twitter on connect with us on LinkedIn, all the better.
Chamber 2011 Business Survey Results
Please review the attached documents relating to the sign by-law changes to determine how your business may be impacted
Sign By-Law Report
Technical Appendix
Retail Business Holidays Act Region of Halton
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