NEWS RELEASE
TIMMINS CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
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Chamber President Melanie Verreault, Vice-president Rob Knox, CAO Keitha Robson and Policy and Engagement Lead Cameron Grant recently represented the interest of Timmins businesses at the Canadian Chamber of Commerce Annual Policy Debate.
The first in their historic 2020 AGM and Convention, the virtual conference saw over 900 chamber representatives and business leaders in attendance. Over two days, the network came together from across the country with the overarching goal of mitigating the pandemic's impact on the economy, their communities, and each other.
The national policy debate, moderated by ex-speaker of the Ontario Legislative Assembly Dave Levac, included nearly 300 Chamber delegates from across the country, where accredited Chambers representatives presented their respective priorities to the Chamber delegation. Of the proposed resolutions submitted to the compendium, sixty-one were raised and debated on the virtual floor.
Those passed successfully form the final compendium, while the submitting chamber typically revisits those voted down for reconsideration.
The Chamber introduced two made-in-Timmins resolutions, which called on the federal government to reform the scope of federal environmental assessments to accelerate national infrastructure development and address Canada's unresolved land claims— live issues impacting our natural resource industries and First Nations communities across Canada.
Chamber President Melanie Verreault was on hand to introduce the Chamber's first policy that spoke to the unresolved land claims issues. "The lack of clarity or progress regarding the federal government's approaches to many Indigenous issues – including the duty to consult and unresolved land claims – threatens the future socioeconomic well-being of communities across Canada while hindering meaningful discourse on the development of natural resource sector projects," said Verreault, speaking to the context of the resolution.
"We're calling on parliament to accelerate the process of resolving land claims in a manner that reflects due financial prudence and elevates active participation by Indigenous communities through increased and improved access to clear and accessible information."
Chamber Vice-President Rob Knox spoke to the evergreen issues among natural resource sectors regarding Federal Environmental Assessments. "Projects critical to the national economy face months or years of delay due to the over-sized scope of federal Environmental Assessment regimes," said Knox.
"Instead of genuinely assessing environmental risk, today's federal Environmental Assessments are empty shells. They create hurdles for project development and provide a platform for opponents to object. Without an objective set of rules and standards, EAs often become politicized. The outcome seems mostly determined by the priorities of the government in power, while critical infrastructure projects languish in red tape."
Both policy resolutions outlined vital recommendations that would improve legislative processes and brought about some heavy debate. In the end, the two were strongly supported and have been successfully adopted as official Canadian Chamber policy positions, forming part of their advocacy efforts for the next three years.
"The policy debate is an important opportunity for our Chamber to elevate our members' priorities at the National level," said Verreault. "Not only does it showcase how candid conversations from local business owners develop into impactful resolutions but demonstrates the value Chamber membership has in amplifying your voice to all levels of government."
The compendium is slated to be published later this Fall. To read the Timmins Chamber's policy resolutions, click here.
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