The Business Plan is the annual working document providing direction to the chamber team for the calendar year 2013. The Strategic Goals contained in the three year Strategic Plan are listed in the Strategic Plan with the specific detail on how these items are to be achieved or advanced this year.

The 2012 – 2015 Strategic plan focuses on Advocacy, Economic Health, continuing development of member value.

Click HERE for the 2013 Business Plan of the Parksville & District Chamber of Commerce.

The Parksville & District Chamber of Commerce was incorporated under the Boards of Trade Act in 1978, and its Constitution and Bylaws are in accordance with the Act. 

The Canadian Chamber is very concerned about new “anti-spam” rules the federal government announced two weeks ago.
Canadian anti-spam legislation and the corresponding regulations have taken a “ban-all” approach to regulating commercial electronic messages (CEMs).

All emails, SMS texts, social media sent in a commercial context are captured. The legislation will obligate the sender to obtain consent from the receiver prior to sending a CEM. That consent may not be obtained by sending a CEM. The definitions for consent are quite specific and are more demanding than existing privacy legislation.

The legislation also requires an opt-out mechanism in all CEMs which must be backstopped with a database with the details of all business/personal relationships and removals of consent.
The administrative penalties for non-compliance are excessive. The rules would also provide powers for private parties to sue under the legislation.

In response to the Canadian Chamber's Policy Alert, the Parksville & District Chamber of Commerce has made a submission to our MP. 

CLICK HERE to read your Chamber's submission. 

We would like to take this opportunity to thank you for allowing the Parksville & District Chamber of Commerce the opportunity to present the views of our 500 members on what the government’s priorities for the 2013/14 provincial budget should be. 
 
We will be providing a written submission which details the full range of chamber recommendations for budget 2013. 

Our written presentation will address a number of issues we do not have the time to address in our comments today.  These will include skills and education, transportation and the role of Crown Corporations.

The news that provincial revenue has taken a $1.4 billion hit as a result of a drop in natural resource revenue is yet another reminder BC is subject to the vagaries of the global economy.  We are and will remain price takers on the world stage not price setters.

Further to this we have seen signs that many of the challenges to BC’s economy identified in the First Quarterly Report are moving from a risk into reality.

Primary focus over the past two months has been at the local level. The Parksville & District Chamber of Commerce has met with City Staff and Council for discussions relating to Commercial Water Rates and the Business License Bylaw.

The Chamber’s position on Water Rates is that the primary focus should be paying for infrastructure and this was the position we argued. The City’s primary focus was on conservation and using water rates as the stick to encourage conservation. This is somewhat of a “Double Edged Stick” as there is a budget target for water and too much conservation will require further rate hikes to meet budget. The Chamber’s position was listened to and a compromise of sorts was passed by council resulting in significant increases to both residential and commercial water users, however on the commercial side the increases are not as dramatic as they would have been under the first City proposal.  Of the 4300 connections 300 are commercial; this is not an accurate figure as one connection can service one business or 20 businesses, depending on property ownership. The overriding principal remains the same, residential water users far outnumber commercial water users and should be paying their share based on infrastructure.

The Parksville & District Chamber of Commerce Policy Committee met to discuss your request for input on the proposed Business Regulations Pertaining to Noise and/or Odour.

We are familiar with the proposed regulation through attendance at Council Meetings where the proposal was presented and reviewing the Report from G.A Jackson, Director of Community Planning.

Our 2010 Annual General Meeting was hosted at The Beach Club Resort. President Gary Child laid out the goals for the coming year, and a new Board of Directors was elected. The Executive and Board members in attendance were sworn in by M.L.A. Ron Cantelon.

It has become apparent that there is a significant issue in obtaining timely local government approvals on Development Permits. We also believe that, with no source of recourse, local governments have the opportunity to withhold approvals until the applicant agrees to take on costs that may or may not be related to the specific project application.

The process for the application of Development Permits varies dramatically between Local Governments across the province. These variances cause confusion for the applicant and result in additional costs due to the uncertainty of the process.

Any review of the competitiveness of the province’s taxation regime must address the fact that small- and medium-sized businesses (SME’s) play a pivotal role in the provincial economy.  The Chamber has consistently been the leading voice calling for the recognition of the role played by SME’s in economic growth, job creation, regional and local development and social cohesion for communities across the province.

With this in mind, The Chamber believes that it is critical that the Provincial Government focus on SME’s as they develop their taxation plans.