BC Chamber of Commerce
February 16, 2015, 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 across the province.
This year, chambers are celebrating the theme of “Leadership in Action” – a theme which highlights the leadership chambers bring to their business communities, working hard to enhance B.C. as a business-friendly jurisdiction with strong opportunities for all British Columbians.
And this leadership delivers results. Following on B.C. chambers’ active advocacy, the federal and provincial governments working in partnership, were able to deliver a significant win for B.C.’s businesses: the launch of the Canada Job Grant in B.C.
Thanks to the hard work of chambers in B.C., working closely with a responsive government, employers will be able to apply for up $10,000 in training funds. The Canada Job Grant, funded by the Government of Canada and administered by the Province of B.C., is an innovative cost-sharing program that helps employers offset the cost of training for new or current employees.
And that’s just one of many positive changes that the chamber network has led for B.C. businesses. Among many areas of impact, B.C.’s chambers have been a key voice:
• encouraging balanced budgets at all levels of government;
• continuing to call for solutions to B.C.’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 B.C.’s most extensive business policy development process. This process brings B.C. businesses’ innovative ideas and on-the-ground insights to B.C.’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 B.C. are catalysts for change, bringing together business and community leaders to figure out how to take each community forward.
Here in Clearwater, the Clearwater and District Chamber of Commerce has worked hard to promote business and employment in this community.
So as B.C. 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 B.C.’s chambers bring to our communities.