Dear Members:
It has been an eventful and exciting month for the City of Vaughan!  First and foremost, the municipal election brought forth a decisive change in our City's government.  The Vaughan Chamber of Commerce would like to take this opportunity to congratulate all of the winners from the October 25^th election.  The people of Vaughan have spoken and your victory ushers in a new era.  On behalf of the Vaughan Chamber's Board of Directors, we look forward to working with you as we continue to promote and improve business in the City of Vaughan.

With our new Mayor and changes in the makeup of the regional and local Councillors, we at the Vaughan Chamber are ready and willing to work closely with our newly elected political leaders to ensure a positive and profitable relationship between the City Council and administration and the business community.  We can already sense a new enthusiasm toward creating a more positive working environment and image for our City. What is good for business in Vaughan will benefit the entire community.

I am also thrilled about our newest Chamber initiative that was held last week: the "Women to Women" event on November 3. Although I was unable to attend personally, the feedback from the attendees has been glowingly positive! Over 220 people (95% business women) attended this sold-out event that featured a frank and engaging panel discussion from guest speakers Jo-anne Marr, Interim President & CEO of York Central Hospital, Vivian Risi, owner of Royal LePageYour Community Realty, and Jody Steinhauer, Chief Visionary Officer of The Bargains Group Ltd.  The panel discussion was moderated by Beth Wilson, Toronto & Managing Partner of KPMG.  It is encouraging to see the quality of the female contingent that is part of our business community in Vaughan and especially to have such great participation from them in this Chamber event. You can read more about the day's events further down this newsletter.  A special thank you goes to both the founding sponsors and committee members of this event.  We will definitely be offering more of these events in the future, and look forward to doubling our attendance and again providing top notch professional development for all of our female members.  Just one more added value for your membership dollar!