Burlington Chamber of Commerce - Advocacy

A key objective of the Burlington Chamber of Commerce is to be an effective advocate for Burlington business. The Chamber works on your behalf. Our alliances with other Chambers and Boards of Trade, including the Ontario and Canadian Chambers, provide us with information and access to all levels of government. We carry the collective and individual views of Chamber members to all levels of government to ensure that your voice is heard. The Burlington Chamber proudly boasts that it is a proactive, not reactive organization. We help draft policy rather than simply criticize it.

Over the past few months, the Chamber has been active delivering your views to the City of Burlington, the Region of Halton, the Provincial and Federal governments. Below is a summary of some of the advocacy activities of the last several months.

CHAMBER & BEDC PRESENT JOINT DELEGATION ON HOSPITAL EXPANSION

The proposed expansion of the Joseph Brant memorial Hospital will cost a total of $312 million. In October, JBMH officially asked the City of Burlington to support the expansion with a $60 million city contribution. This is in addition to $60 million of fundraising that will be done for a total 'local share' of $120 million.

At the December 8, the Chamber and Burlington Economic Development Corporation presented a joint delegation to the City of Burlington Budget and Strategic Planning meeting. The thrust of the delegation was to express support for the city investing in the proposed Joseph Brant Memorial Hospital expansion. The delegation went further in making a series of recommendations that the city should follow regarding its investment in the project. Some of these recommendations include:

identifying the type and range of services to be offered at the hospital

exploring a range of funding options in an effort to minimize the tax impact

establishing performance measures and benchmarks for hospital care

making the hospital a centre for innovation and research with respect to teaching and technology commercialization

The B&SP committee voted unanimously to support the $60 million 'ask' from the hospital. On Monday, December 14, City Council also unanimously approved the motion. The details of how the $60 million will be raised is still to be determined.

In simple terms, if the $60 million is raised through a tax levy that is spread over 10 years, the tax impact each year per $100,000 current value assessment will be:

Residential
$19.18

1.78%

Commercial
$29.74

1.13%

Industrial
$45.27

1.19%

Both the Chamber and BEDC have offered to work closely with the city and JBMH to ensure Burlington receives the type of facility and level of health care it needs.

CHAMBER HOSTS REVENUE MINISTER JOHN WILKINSON:

TRANSITION TO HST

The Chamber has made special arrangements to have the Honourable John Wilkinson, Ontario's new Minister of Revenue, speak to a Burlington business audience about the Province's move to a single sales tax, also know as the Harmonized Sales Tax (HST). Minister Wilkinson's mandate includes the transition to and administration of the single sales tax which will take effect on July 1, 2010. Minister Wilkinson will discuss the importance of a singles sales tax, the reasons why the government has committed to this policy and what it means to business and the economy. The minister, along with ministry staff, will be available to answer your questions about HST. Click here for a copy of the Minister's speech.

CHAMBER HOSTS CONSULTATION MEETING WITH FINANCE CRITIC JOHN McCALLUM

Francis Mackan, John McCallum and Gord Fielding discuss federal economic issues.

On August 26, the Chamber hosted its third Business Consultation Meeting. This meeting featured John McCallum, federal finance critic. Hot on the heals of the Business Consultation meeting with Finance Minister Flaherty (two days earlier) this meeting proved to be an interesting contrast. It was encouraging that Minister Flaherty and Mr. McCallum had very similar responses to questions on HST (they are both in favour) and Canadian dollar volatility (there is little the government can do to reduce it). Meeting attendees gave Mr. McCallum advice on many other issues including employment insurance and education. Mr. McCallum was pleased with the frank discussion and will be including many items in liberal party policy development.

CHAMBER HOSTS CONSULTATION MEETING WITH FINANCE MINISTER JIM FLAHERTY

Francis Mackan, Jim Flaherty and Mike Wallace discuss Burlington business priorities.

About 25 Chamber members spent some quality time with federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty on August 24^th as part of a new Burlington Chamber program that arranges small consultation meetings with senior ministers and opposition critics. During the session the finance minister heard a number of concerns from the Burlington business contingent. Some of the issues discussed during the consultation meeting included capital investment, venture capital, the 'buy American' clause, Canadian dollar volatility, RRSPs, regulation, HST, auto bailouts, Chinese investment, and the federal government's plans for the new-world economy. There was a thorough debate on the link between business and education. “Of course, the major concern overall expressed in our meeting is the significant recession and the U.S. economy,” Flaherty said later in an interview. Look for the full story in the November 2009 REVIEW magazine.

CHAMBER NETWORK HELPS TO DEFEAT REPLACEMENT WORKERS BILL

On Wednesday, April 29 members of Parliament defeated a motion regarding the use of replacement workers by federally-regulated employers by a vote of 157 to 119. This motion stated that, “the government should introduce in the House, no later than October 15, 2009, a bill to amend the Canada Labour Code to prohibit the use of replacement workers in labour disputes falling under the jurisdiction of the federal government while at the same time ensuring that essential services are maintained.” While not binding, adoption of this motion by Parliament could have set a precedent for the introduction of legislation banning the use of replacement workers by federally-regulated employers. The defeat of this motion was due in large part to local Chamber efforts in contacting local members of Parliament to let them know how harmful this type of legislation could be to all businesses. MPs Mike Wallace and Lisa Raitt voted against the motion.

CHAMBER HOST CONSULTATION MEETING WITH MARC GARNEAU

Marc Garneau meets with Burlington business leaders to discuss R&D and innovation.

On Tuesday, April 14 a group of Burlington business leaders met with Marc Garneau federal Liberal Critic for Industry, Science and Technology. The meeting, hosted by the Burlington Chamber of Commerce, gave local businesses the opportunity to share their views about industry and employment with the federal industry critic. The discussion focused on 'jobs of tomorrow' and covered a wide variety of topics including SR&ED policy, intellectual property, auto bailouts, and the link between education, business and research. "This was a unique opportunity for the Burlington business community to speak directly with a member of federal parliament about the key drivers in creating the jobs of tomorrow. Mr. Garneau was very receptive to the comments expressed at the meeting. I fully expect the input from this meeting will have direct impact on the liberal party platform and potentially the policies of the federal government," said Francis Mackan, Chair of the Burlington Chamber and host of the meeting with Garneau. "Judging by the thoughtful and spirited conversation, the Burlington business leaders who took part in the meeting certainly made the most of the opportunity." Mr. Garneau will be using the information from this meeting to help formulate the liberal industry platform.

CHAMBER ASK SCHOOL BOARDS TO DELAY START OF SCHOOL YEAR

In order to accommodate the full schedule of 194 school days, Halton school boards considered moving the September 2009 school start date forward by one week to before Labour Day. Because of the difficulties this would cause for local businesses, the chamber sent a letter to the Minister of Education urging a post-Labour Day start to the school year. Click here to read the letter.

CHAMBER URGES POLITICIANS TO GET BACK TO BUSINESS

The Burlington Chamber, along with the Canadian Chamber and other Chambers across the country, is urging politicians to set aside partisan issues and get back to the business of running the country. Since the recent Economic Statement, discussion in the House of Commons has been almost exclusively focused on political posturing. The CCC has sent a letter to all party leaders and the Burlington Chamber has sent a letter to Burlington MP Mike Wallace. Click here to read the letter.