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Chamber initiatives help local businesses

The Greater Sudbury Chamber of Commerce is ?the voice of business? in the Sudbury area. Businesses join the chamber for various reasons including the exposure of their business that comes with networking opportunities.

The Greater Sudbury Chamber of Commerce is ?the voice of business? in the Sudbury area. Businesses join the chamber for various reasons including the exposure of their business that comes with networking opportunities. Also, there are various savings opportunities offered through the chamber which can often offset the cost of membership.

BONIN
But one of the key roles of the chamber is advocating on behalf of its business members to all three levels of government on issues that impact businesses in our community. A comment we have heard is that few businesses know what is being done behind the scenes on their behalf by the chamber.

This new column, Advocate?s Corner, will highlight some of the many advocacy initiatives being carried out by the Sudbury chamber with various levels of government on behalf of business.

Mining Centre of Excellence

Your chamber has played a key role in advocating for a Centre of Excellence in Mining Innovation over the last few years with all three levels of government, and made it an issue during the federal all candidates debates during the last federal election. The chamber has brought this issue forward and obtained support at the Ontario, Canadian and Northeastern Ontario chambers of commerce annual general meetings. The chamber is now working with the new board of the Centre of Excellence and Mining Initiative (CEMI) to assist in the continued advocacy for this initiative.

Municipal Government Level

Your chamber provides comments to city council on various initiatives from a business perspective. Issues like the new draft Official Plan and municipal budget are commented on from a business point of view. The chamber will be hosting a mayoral all candidates debate leading up to the Nov. 13th municipal elections, and will provide business-oriented questions so taxpayers can make an informed decision.

Business Retention and Expansion Initiative

The chamber, along with its partners, the Greater Sudbury Development Corporation and the Sudbury and Manitoulin Workforce Partnerships Board, has championed this strategy from inception through to the public forum held last night where results were discussed. The BR+E initiative surveyed businesses on their views and ideas to enhance economic opportunities locally and will champion those results through various committees and with the city to achieve results and improve the business climate in our community.

The chamber has already held meetings with various city departments to discuss issues and recommendations on the topic of building permits and the approval processes.

In the next article, we will review other initiatives that the chamber is advocating on behalf of its members in Greater Sudbury.

John Bonin is the 1st vice-chair of the Greater Sudbury Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors.

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