NEWS RELEASE
TIMMINS CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
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The Timmins Chamber of Commerce has secured the support of the province’s largest business advocacy group to assist in taking on six key regional issues, ranging from mining and forestry to workforce development.
At the Ontario Chamber of Commerce's (OCC) annual general meeting in Sarnia on May 4-7, Timmins Chamber representatives successfully urged more than 100 conference attendees to support policies designed to take action on these provincial issues:
- Improving Indigenous post-secondary educational opportunities
- Reducing permitting delays related to mining exploration
- Clarifying the duty to consult
- Addressing the impact of climate change on the Far North winter road network
- Conducting socio-economic impact studies prior to divesting Crown corporations
- Ensuring the use of scientific data and socio-economic impact studies in the development of conservation plans under the Endangered Species Act / Crown Forest Sustainability Act
This success means that the Timmins Chamber policies are now official policy positions of the OCC. As such, the OCC will actively use these positions to push the government for change, supported by the full weight of the 60,000 businesses represented by the organization.
“This is a significant victory for Timmins businesses, and our regional economy as a whole,” said Christine Bender, president of the Timmins Chamber of Commerce.
“The Ontario Chamber is the province’s most influential business advocacy group, and the adoption of our policies in Sarnia means that the organization will actively lobby for these positions with the provincial government over the next three years. In other words, Timmins Chamber members’ concerns will be heard at the highest levels as a result of this success, which is crucial to help protect our business competitiveness.”
The six policy resolutions posed and adopted in Sarnia are a continuation of the Timmins Chamber’s longstanding efforts to address its members’ concerns regarding issues that matter to them. For instance, workforce shortages are among the most significant challenges for local businesses, and it is widely recognized that Canada’s Indigenous people – the fastest-growing population in the country – must be a key component of Ontario’s strategy. To that end, one of Timmins’ newly adopted resolutions urges the province to do more to provide consistent, improved post-secondary educational opportunities for Indigenous people. Similarly, to help Timmins benefit from its natural advantages in mining and forestry, resolutions were developed to address undue, Ontario-specific obstacles faced by those respective industries.
The Timmins Chamber developed these resolutions based on input from its members as well as its Government Regulation and Policy Committee. As a sign of their broader impact on Northern Ontario, the policies were also co-sponsored at the event by the Greater Sudbury Chamber of Commerce, Thunder Bay Chamber of Commerce, North Bay and District Chamber of Commerce, and the Sault Ste. Marie Chamber of Commerce.
“Given the importance that each of these issues has for our members, we’re very pleased to be able to advance them at the provincial level," said Bender. "With the Ontario Chamber network now in full support of Timmins’ priorities, we look forward to working with our partners across the province to push for meaningful change.”
The Ontario Chamber event also saw the successful passage of several policies put forward by other Northern Ontario chambers and on which the Timmins Chamber had partnered in the interests of its members. This includes resolutions insisting that the province reinvest cap and trade revenues into industries and communities affected by the program, and that the province create concierge service to make it easier for small business to understand and comply to Ontario regulations.
The Sarnia conference also gave Timmins Chamber representatives the opportunity to hear directly from Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne, PC Leader Patrick Brown and NDP Leader Andrea Horwath on these and other key issues for local businesses.
To view the full versions of the policy that will now be championed by the CCC, please visit the Chamber’s website, or view them directly at here.
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