The Thompson Chamber of Commerce hosted its two-part annual general meeting March 9, with the election and swearing-in of present board members during the noon portion, and an evening portion dedicated to speakers.
The Thompson Chamber of Commerce hosted its two-part annual general meeting March 9, with the election and swearing-in of present board members during the noon portion, and an evening portion dedicated to speakers.
Speaking in the evening, newly elected president Oswald Sawh, acknowledges the work that lays ahead of him: “The face of business in Thompson is changing; there’s no doubt about that. Our membership has decreased over the last few years, and we as a chamber need to change. We need to engage groups we haven’t engaged before, and move forward.”
Sawh’s priority is to advocate for businesses not only with regional and provincial governments, but among the public as well, and to re-establish the role of local businesses as community leaders: “Businesses create wealth, not government, and when we’re faced with social issues in a community, I think people tend to forget what businesses can contribute to a community. As a chamber, aside from lobbying and support services, we need to remind people of the importance of business in the community, why we need to support it, and what things would look like if that business wasn’t there.”
Merv Gunter, owner of Frontiers North and chair of the Manitoba Chambers of Commerce, was the guest speaker of the evening, and reinforced Sawh’s goals to re-establish the prominence of commerce in the public’s mind. With tourism at the forefront of many economic discussions in Thompson, Gunter spoke of the work that was underway to promote tourism in the province.
“The Manitoba chamber has heard often heard that the industry needed a hero, or a champion, to get the industry aligned and focused,” said Gunter, noting that tourism in Manitoba, while fairly large, was comprised of a number of smaller, mom-and-pop operations with little individual influence. “There are a multitude of issues surrounding tourism and its operators, but the Manitoba Chambers of Commerce saw the need to identify one issue that we could all unify behind: tourism marketing dollars, or a lack of them, have long been the issue.”
Gunter cited success in lobbying the province to implement the sustainable tourism investment model, as presented by the Manitoba Chambers of Commerce, outlining the province’s commitment to investing in tourism marketing. But he also stressed that these successes depended on building relationships between local and provincial institutions: “I can’t tell you how much difference it makes when decision-makers are given a real-life example of the impact and need for specific policy change. This speaks to the importance of the local chamber network in identifying challenges and developing policy with us, and we’re happy to see Thompson chamber is once again adding their voice to the process with the submission of policies for our AGM in May.”
The 2016 Thompson Chamber of Commerce Executive is as follows:
