The federal election is expected to be called in the next few weeks and the Peterborough Chamber is currently in the process of pulling together all of the information our members will need to know.

There are three ridings that cover Peterborough City and County.  These are:

• Peterborough-Kawartha

Population: 118,176
Registered Voters: 93,190
Area: 3,473km2

• Northumberland - Peterborough South

Population: 112,412
Registered Voters: 89,605
Area: 3,001km2

• Haliburton-Kawartha Lakes-Brock

Population: 113,956
Registered Voters: 91,802
Area: 8,941km2

The Peterborough Chamber of Commerce as always will be focussing on policy, not politics.   

In May the Canadian Chamber of Commerce released a business platform titled “Vote Prosperity”
“We have published an open letter to all of Canada’s federal party leaders, challenging them to give our 200,000 business owners what they must have: a fighting chance to compete and grow. Canada’s
businesses have every right to expect a level playing field with the countries they compete against. We call on all party leaders to build their business policy proposals around the Vote Prosperity checklist, which outlines what Canada’s job creators themselves have identified as mission critical,” said the Hon. Perrin Beatty, PC, OC, President & CEO, CCC.

Vote Prosperity reflects the priorities and concerns of job creators in communities across Canada. Developed in partnership with Canada’s provincial and territorial chambers of commerce, Vote Prosperity lays out our seven priorities, along with a series of specific measures to attract investment to Canada, and help businesses create jobs, grow and strengthen our communities.

The seven priority areas are:

• Taxation
• Regulation
• Trade
• Small Business
• Connected Canada
• Skills

Some of the measures within those seven priority areas are, creating:

• A regulatory system that works for everyone, including business;
• A tax system that is fair, efficient and modern;
• Greater access to new markets around the world, and the breaking down of domestic trade barriers;
• Helping SMEs in a way that’s meaningful to them so that they can grow and succeed at home and abroad;
• Helping Canada seize the power of the digital age, while also investing in more traditional trade-enabling infrastructure;
• Helping grow a 21st century workforce with the skills,
• education and training required to prosper; and
• An affordable approach to filling the gaps in pharmacare without disrupting today’s employment provided plans.

“Without a thriving business sector, Canada’s economic growth suffers, our prosperity declines, and our governments can afford fewer roads, hospitals, and schools. When business succeeds, Canada succeeds. Our businesses needs the next government to be a forward-looking partner that helps them build a stronger and more innovative Canada for all,” added Beatty.

The Canadian Chamber has developed a website which can be accessed through our website peterboroughchamber.ca   

During this election campaign, seven local business organizations are banding together to host an all-candidates’ debate focussed on business issues.

The host organizations are:

• Greater Peterborough Chamber of Commerce
• Downtown Business Improvement Area
• Peterborough and the Kawarthas Association of Realtors
• Peterborough and the Kawarthas Homebuilders Association
• Kawartha Manufacturers' Association
• Women's Business Network
• Peterborough and District Construction Association

The event will be held on Monday, September 30th at Market Hall from 5:30 – 9:00pm.

The Peterborough Chamber is thrilled to be one of three finalists in the 2019 Canadian Chamber of Commerce competition.   

Chambers from across Canada were asked to submit an event based around advocacy. The Peterborough Chamber put forward the Power Hour event and was selected as a finalist to present at the national Annual General Meeting on September 21, 2019.    

The Power Hour is annual event held in the first quarter of the year.  It brings together our local elected officials from all four levels of government and the business community.   The 90-minute question
and answer session includes audience questions and covers a variety topics.
​
Thanks to our sponsors, members, and elected officials for making this event a success!

The Chamber does work that is purposeful, transparent, accountable and strategic, all with the goal of strengthening the community.

The Chamber is driven by the leadership of its members, who believe that Peterborough will never be good enough for any of us until it’s good enough for all of us.

The Chamber can put its name on many of the community’s accomplishments over the past 130 years. There have been hundreds of women and men who, for no other reason than love of our city and county, have volunteered with the Chamber to make good things happen.

Business advocacy is paramount to an economically vibrant city. And that effort is privately funded by our membership. We have credible standing at City Hall, at Queen's Park, and in the Parliament of Canada because we represent the business community. We influence public policy to ensure that the stage is set and maintained for business success right here in Peterborough. Having a positive, productive relationship with government at all levels matters – and we’re often able to resolve challenges for our members through those relationships.

Influence:
Our advocacy efforts include letters, meetings, round tables, and Policy Resolutions, which are a formal tool we use to indicate broad support for a specific recommendation to Government. Policy Resolutions can be Municipal - approved by the Policy Committee and the Board, Provincial – approved by the delegates at an Ontario Chamber Annual General Meeting, or Federal – approved by the delegates at a Canadian Chamber AGM. We have authored numerous Policy Resolutions, from municipal tax ratios, to Provincial apprenticeship ratios to federal taxation on digital entities and the risks of cybercrime.

We work openly and account for our work, with a focus on two fundamentals, the ultimate success of our member companies, and the prosperity for the community of Peterborough City and County. We don’t make willy-nilly decisions based on the interests of a few. Rather, our positions on issues that impact your business and the community as a whole take a long-view and are based on fact, and broad input.

There are a multitude of organizations involved in this work, representing everything from economic development, innovation, new Canadians, women, the downtown, the trades, the professions, etc. etc. We call them #TeamPtbo. But we feel that we represent all of those organizations, all of those sectors, all of that potential.

And, just like we’ve done for 130 years, we leverage the passion, time, treasure and spirit of our
community to ensure that Peterborough remains strong in an increasingly competitive global marketplace.

"We benefit from the strong network of businesses the Chamber provides. We've experienced expense savings with the member discount programs and I know that the Chamber is an advocate for local business, and that benefits our community."
Sue Sharpe
Brant Office Supply

Profile:
Our members make connections in the community in a multitude of ways:
- by accessing our multiple social media channels
- by being listed in our online membership directory that works hard for your business 24/7 because of our high Google ranking.
- by accessing our networking and ticketed events, as well as professional development programs, ticketed events and sponsorship programs

"This membership isn't all about networking in person. There is a real opportunity, at a foundational level, to improve your local rankings online and help you reach more people simply by being listed as a member of the Peterborough Chamber of Commerce"
Toby MacLeod
Stradegy.ca

Knowledge:
We can help you with your business fundamentals by:
- Keeping up with Government. Legislative/Policy changes come at you from all levels of Government. We curate that information and keep you up to date on a need to know basis.
- Our workshops connect you to the expertise of other members, and we partner with other organizations to give you access to a broad spectrum of business information.
- Our numerous discount/exclusive programs offered by our members can not only provide learning opportunities, but can make you a more attractive employer

"Being a Chamber member is so important to us for a couple of reasons; the advocacy the Chamber does on our behalf and on behalf of small business, and the Chamber health plan, which we're able to offer to our full time staff to help support them and their families."
Kelli and Tony Grady
Grady's Feet Essentials

There are many reasons to belong to The Chamber, from promoting your business, to saving you money, to helping you gain a competitive edge. But the most important is the simple strengthening of your business. I invite you to be a part of writing the next chapter. Your membership is not only an investment in your business, it’s an annual vote of confidence in ours.

The Canadian Chamber of Commerce (CCC) is completing a series reports around Artificial Intelligence (AI).  In 2017, the federal government released its Pan-Canadian Artificial Intelligence Strategy which funds three centres of excellence in AI research and innovation in Edmonton, Montreal and Toronto. From 2017-2018 there was a 28% increase in the number of active AI-related start-ups in Canada.

Part of the series included roundtable events in Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver to discuss issues and opportunities in relation to AI.   It includes an examination of:

1. AI and the Workforce
2. Legal and Regulatory Frameworks for AI
3. AI and Inclusion

The report on workforce identifies that the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) estimates that 14% of jobs in OECD countries are already highly automatable, while another 32% will be radically transformed by technological progress.  Ensuring Canadian workers have the skills and knowledge necessary to succeed and prosper amid such widespread innovation is a crucial public policy priority.

Recommendations from the roundtable on workforce:
The Government of Canada should:

• Support training initiatives that help to upgrade and transfer existing skills. Canadian workers are already being asked to respond to changes in their workplaces that result from the deployment of AI solutions. To ensure they can do so successfully, enhanced resiliency will be essential. The government should encourage and fund initiatives that “up-skill” and “re-skill” workers in partnership with post-secondary institutions and/or technology firms. The government should also directly encourage employers to retrain and redeploy their existing employees by facilitating partnerships with post-secondary institutions and AI start-ups.
• Encourage AI “interfacers.” Canada’s workforce needs to have people capable of playing the role of an “interfacer” between AI technologists and business leaders. These “interfacers” may themselves be AI technologists who have business acumen. They may also be business people with technical knowledge. The government should ensure there is an adequate supply of Canadians with these skillsets. It can do so by supporting secondment opportunities and similar at-work training programs for those who currently work in business and AI sectors.
• Recognize the role of large tech companies in fostering the AI workforce. The government should encourage initiatives that involve large technology companies, or incentivize their participation, in local education and training programs such as co-op placements and part time work programs. These companies’ government-supported community contributions could also take the form of partnerships with local colleges and universities in research and recruitment — including by funding research and teaching positions at post-secondary institutions on a talent-sharing basis — as well as supporting local entrepreneurs through acquisitions and joint ventures.
• Continue to foster technology-centric urban hubs. The government should continue to invest in attracting and keeping key technology companies in Canada’s urban centres. For example, Canada should convene different orders of government to implement policies that help companies obtain the real estate and workforce they need to establish or expand their presence in Canada and hire Canadian workers.
• Focus on supporting local entrepreneurship. The government should support more training and skills development programs with a focus on business skills for entrepreneurship. The programs could be offered free of charge, online and on a flexible schedule to aspiring entrepreneurs
• Provide financial support to aspiring entrepreneurs. The government should provide more support to aspiring entrepreneurs, especially those in emerging and strategic industries such as AI. To do this, the government should consider allowing entrepreneurs to access part of their Employment Insurance benefits during the very early stages of their projects.
• Implement measures that promote living in Canada. The urban centres associated with the technology hubs should be promoted to AI workers as attractive work destinations. The government should partner with other orders of government to support the development of local infrastructure, promote accessibility to housing and fund cultural programs that make the hubs attractive to the global tech workforce. For example, well-developed public transit and a low cost of living will encourage workers to come and stay to work in Canada. The government should focus in particular on funding programs such as networking circles that provide opportunities to skilled technology workers to develop local connections. It should also continue to facilitate immigration pathways through initiatives such as the Global Talent Stream.

According to one forecast by the McKinsey Global Institute, AI could generate $13 trillion in additional global economic activity by 2030, representing an additional 1.2% growth in GDP. One of the challenges identified in the series is continuing to encourage AI as a way to enhance productivity in both rural and urban centres.