Voice of Business Newsletter

June 2010

Photo by David Szabo Photography

IN THIS ISSUE

June Survey

Manager's Report

Economic Development Report

Penticton & Wine Country Tourism Report

Penticton Visitor Centre Report

Membership Services Report

Canadian Chamber of Commerce

Government of Canada

BC Chamber of Commerce

Monday Morning Memo

New Members

Monthly Survey Question

The Penticton & Wine Country Chamber of Commerce wants to know what you think!

Click on the question mark to view this month's survey question regarding Penticton & Wine Country Tourism's Five-Year Marketing Plan.

Thanks to all those who responded to last month's survey question.

Here are the stats from last month's survey:

"Do you support the Chamber continuing with the fee for service contracts with the City of Penticton in the areas of Economic Development, Tourism Development and the Visitor's Centre?"

Yes 55%

No 45%

Manager's Report by Lorraine Renyard

We were in attendance at the BC Chamber of Commerce Annual General Meeting and Conference recently held in Vancouver. The highlight for us was the announcement that the 60th Annual BC Chamber of Commerce AGM will be held in Penticton in May of 2012. We appreciate the assistance of our partners at the Trade and Convention Centre in making this happen.

Past President, Jason Cox and President, Cary Schneiderat presented two policies that were passed unanimously by the almost 200 delegates from communities across British Columbia.

"A Long Term Strategic Approach to Transportation in the Southern Interior of B.C." was developed from the Chamber wide Okanagan Transportation Committee and the need to develop an integrated, multi-modal transportation vision for the Southern Interior region that builds on the "Okanagan Valley Transportation Corridor - An Assessment of Select Projects and Initiatives" report.

The second policy submitted "Predictability for Provincial and Regional Destination Marketing Organizations" created a fair amount of discussion, however, with some minor changes it was adopted. This policy was researched and written in partnership with the Greater Victoria Chamber of Commerce due to concerns in the industry as to the stability of funding for the provincial and regional destination marketing organizations.

The BC Chamber of Commerce is the largest and broadest based business organization representing over 30,000 businesses of all classes of business owners.

Economic Development Report by David Arsenault

We live in such a great place and it is the summer months that remind us all how fortunate we are. The summer of 2010 will be especially exciting with the recent announcement of the NHL Young Stars Hockey tournament and Canucks main training camp. This event will not only fill our hotels it will also put our community in the national spotlight. Along with this good news we were also fortunate to be the host City for the World Junior 'A' Challenge in November which will extend that media reach beyond our country's borders. These are just two examples of the value of sport tourism in our great City as our summer months are also draws for soccer, rugby, BMX, dragon boats competitions and triathlons. The City of Penticton will be tracking the economic benefits of these events as we know that the attraction of sporting events to our community is a key component of the Penticton experience.

Sporting events have real and tangible economic value to the communities that host such events. For example, the 2006 IIHF World Junior Championship in Vancouver, Kamloops and Kelowna generated an estimated $41.0 million in economic activity for the Province of British Columbia. This included over $8.1 million in wages and salaries in the Province through the support of 275 jobs (Canadian Sport Tourism Alliance). While the recent announcements are smaller in scale to the IIHF world Championships, we will see some positive spin-offs from these events.

Penticton is still a much sought after area to live and play. Last month Penticton's building statistics show a dramatic increase from the same time last year. In May 2010 the year to date value was $54 million dollars worth of investment compared to $14 million in 2009. Tourism visits to the City of Penticton are also up with the Penticton Visitor Centre reporting an increase in visits to our community of over 5% from this time last year despite the rainy weather. These two indicators are great news to the community and our local economy.

David Arsenault MBA is Penticton's Economic Development Officer and a former college professor with Okanagan College. If you have good news stories related to business in Penticton contact 250-493-3323 or email darsenault@penticton.org

Penticton & Wine Country Tourism Report by Jessie Campbell

Penticton & Wine Country Tourism Brings Marketing Manager on Board to Take Penticton's Brand to New Heights

PENTICTON, BC - Penticton & Wine Country Tourism welcomes Marketing Manager Jessie Campbell, as the organization continues to crystallize its long-term vision for the region. With a background that includes Public Relations, marketing and brand, Campbell brings solid expertise and incredible passion for the tourism industry.

"I've literally been waiting for this opportunity to come available," says Campbell, who is from Penticton originally and has spent her career in the advertising agency industry, working for a variety of tourism clients including Tourism Yukon. "My two great professional loves are PR and brand. And now I am working for a place I couldn't be prouder of - beautiful Penticton, British Columbia."

Campbell was most recently with Think. Marketing in Kelowna as Director of PR & Client Services. Campbell joins Marketing Assistant Tracy Clark Reis, and together with the Tourism Advisory Council Committee this team has lofty ambitions for the ongoing growth of Penticton & Wine Country as a globally-recognized, must-visit destination.

"I believe Penticton's identity is now strong enough to separate us more aggressively from our competition. I'm incredibly enthusiastic about making big things happen for this beautiful city in the South Okanagan."

For more information, Jessie can be reached by calling (250) 490-2464 or by email jcampbell@penticton.org

Penticton Visitor Centre Report by Sherrie Burechailo

The Visitor Centre would like to welcome the new staff for the summer; Ashley, Lisa, Courtney and Ollie! They all have completed the Tourism BC comprehensive three day training and are ready to assist the summer visitors. Led by new Supervisor, Sherrie Burechailo, they are experiencing many of the adventures Penticton has to offer so they can adequately inform our visitors.

Our long time volunteers continue to be a source of knowledge and support; we would like to thank Ted Fowler, Len Avarbuch, Leslie Smith, Cornelia King, Phil Cove, Maggie Ricciardi, Carole Henderson, and Diane Somerville. Diane is our newest volunteer and we would like to welcome her to our crew.

Wineries are open, and people are interested in touring for pleasure and wine tasting. Also, with the warmer weather approaching, our visitors are asking more questions about hiking, biking, and rock climbing, setting the stage for a year of increased popularity of Outdoor Adventure and Sports Tourism.

Coming up at the end of the month is the 9th Annual Penticton Pacific Northwest Elvis Festival and the Peach City Beach Cruise with over 500 Hotrods, Antiques, Classics and Specialty cars. For more information and to purchase tickets for these events please visit us at the Penticton Visitor Centre located in the Wine Country Visitor Centre.

Sherrie can be reached at (250) 493-4055 or by email supervic@penticton.org

Membership Services Report by Andrea Davison

U Weight Loss Clinic Business After Business
U Weight Loss Business After Business

Business After Business

Thank you to the staff at U Weight Loss Clinic for a great Business After Business on May 27th. Attendees learned about the great programs U Weight Loss has to offer and were treated to many door prizes.

Also, a thank you to Tania Chartrand and Yolanda Abraham, owners of Rouge Beauty Lounge for hosting a Business After Business on June 10. Attendees were treated to a special 20% off that evening, as well as many door prizes. A great time had by all!

Our next Business After Business will be held on June 24th from 5 - 7 pm at beautiful Twin Lakes Golf Course and will be our wrap-up for the summer break. Don't miss this one as there will be many surprises and giveaways. Twin Lakes is located at 79 Twin Lakes Road in Kaleden and is only a twenty minute drive from Penticton. Hope to see you all there!

Business Excellence Seminar Series

Last month saw the implementation of the educational "Business Excellence Seminar Series." This undertaking has been designed to bring in a series of ongoing workshops that offer a broad range of topics to enhance and educate our members with the necessary tools and techniques for today's ever changing business markets. Designed for business owners, staff and individuals, these seminars offer everything from brushing up on customer service skills, to social media, current taxation information, human resources, conflict resolution, office computer software training and upgrading, with more in the works.

Each seminar under the "Business Excellence Seminar Series" umbrella is $45 for members and $65 for non-members. Watch for upcoming seminars in the fall!

New Website

We are pleased to announce the launch of our new website within the next month. Stay tuned for many exciting upgrades and changes!

Canadian Chamber of Commerce

From the Desk of the President

Perrin Beatty

First, I want to thank you for your ongoing support of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce. Knowing how full your schedules are and how valuable your time is, I thought it appropriate to provide you with this concise update of our recent activities and initiatives.

The spring of 2010 has been very busy at the Canadian Chamber. I am pleased to report that both the G8/20 Business Summit and the Canada-EU Forum, held in Ottawa on April 28 and 29, were very successful. The meetings were particularly timely, coming as Canada negotiates a comprehensive trade and investment agreement with Europe and as our country prepares to host world leaders at the G8 and G20 meetings later this month.

Our Chair, Shauneen Bruder, did an exemplary job of hosting the G8/G20 event, with the high point being her presentation to Prime Minister Harper of the joint G8 business declaration. Speakers included the chairs or presidents from 13 countries representing the most prominent business associations in the G20 and speaking on behalf of millions of businesses. For the second time in less than a year, Prime Minister Harper participated in a Canadian Chamber event with a speech and question and answer session.

Government of Canada

Be HST ready: Resources for businesses

The Governments of Ontario and British Columbia will each implement a harmonized sales tax (HST) that will come into effect on July 1, 2010 and will be administered by the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA).

The CRA is taking steps to ensure that businesses get the information they need to transition to the federal administration of the HST.

If you are registered for GST, you may have received an insert in your last GST/HST return. It provided general information related to harmonization and highlighted the CRA's "Are you HST Ready?" page found at www.cra.gc.ca/harmonization. This is the place to visit for detailed information about the transition to HST and how it will affect your business.

From the page above, you can access links to a number of other helpful resources that are all designed to help you seamlessly transition to the HST. Some of these resources are:

in-person information seminars-sign up to attend a CRA "Transition to HST" seminar (new dates and locations posted regularly);
webinars (online seminars)-reserve your spot now, then log in from home or work to hear and watch the presentation;
video series-topics include an overview on the HST, more detailed information on the transitional rules for goods and services;
information sheets and technical notices-a library of information is located on the "HST Publications" page;.

These pages will be updated regularly, so the easiest way to stay on top of all of the information is to sign up for the HST electronic mailing list (www.cra.gc.ca/lists) or RSS feed (www.cra.gc.ca/rssfeeds) and let the CRA keep you informed.

You can also reach the CRA by telephone at 1-800-959-5525 (TTY 1-800-665-0354).

BC Chamber of Commerce

Vancouver, June 2, 2010 - Business leaders representing Chambers of Commerce from across BC gathered in Vancouver May 27-29^th for the BC Chamber of Commerce Annual General Meeting & Conference to approve the policy agenda for the coming year and elect the new Board of Directors.

The BC Chamber of Commerce is pleased to announce the following Board for 2010/2011:

Chair

Mike Watson, North Vancouver

Immediate Past Chair

David M. Bodnar, Surrey

Directors
James Barlow, Abbotsford; Rod Cox, Terrace; Helen Dutch, Vancouver; Jackie Frederick, Penticton; Brant Hasanen, Kamloops; John Juricic, Victoria; Maureen Kirkbride, Vancouver; Dan McLaren, Prince George; Kerry Rakuson, Nelson; Justin Rigsby, Campbell River; John Turner, Fort St. John.

President & CEO
John Winter, BC Chamber of Commerce, Vancouver

Legal Council
Steve Saville, Vancouver

BC Chamber Executive

Deb McClelland, Kamloops

For further details contact:

John Winter

President and CEO, BC Chamber of Commerce

W 604.638.8113

C 604.376.3577

E jwinter@bcchamber.org