Business Progress November 2013
On October 23rd, 2013 the Prince Albert & District Chamber of Commerce celebrated Small Business Week by hosting a luncheon with the BDC Chief Economist Pierre Cléroux. Mr. Cléroux shared the Five gamechanging consumer trends with those in attendance at the Ches Leach Lounge. If you are interested in reading about these trends, please CLICK HERE. For a short summary please see pages 9 –13.
A Message from the CEO~ Merle Lacert Hello Members The Fall has been very busy, and the Chamber office has continued efforts to bring our members various events & luncheons to assist in gaining insights or assisting with networking opportunities. The chamber has completed several efforts to advocate on behalf of our members, some recent examples include: the release of our taxation recommendations, continuing a strong focus on building and maintaining relationships with various government representatives. Other activities include engaging on various education related initiatives to support building stronger educational models for both K -12 and post secondary. Education is very important component for growing our future labour force. We will also be hosting our second round table discussion on Labour on November 27th/2013. I encourage all interested members to attend this free event. This round table on Labour will focus on both challenges and solutions for recruitment, retention and training. This November, we will also be hosting a WCB workshop and luncheon, this event will provide several presentations which will assist attendees in understanding the process for reporting injuries, as well as many suggestions to assist in injury prevention. Although the workshop event is full, I do encourage members to attend the free luncheon to gain some of the key insights regarding injury prevention. The chamber has also completed various efforts to promote and advise members and non members of who we are and what we do. A important aspect of this is to have our members also promote or refer new members to the chamber. I do encourage all members and non members to visit our website for full information on what we are up to as well as information on upcoming events. The Chamber promotes our members through various methods including: referrals, display of business profiles on our website, and advertising. I would like to advise all members that a underutilized option to promote your business is the display of your business cards here at our chamber office. This service is offered free as part of your membership, please drop by the chamber office and we would be pleased to support your business further by displaying your business cards.
Executive Officers Chairman
Mike Mitchell Tyrone Pest Control First Vice Chairman
Larry Fladager 2nd Vice Chair
Shelley L. Cannon Wilcox Zuk Chovin Law Office Secretary/Treasurer
Gord Jahn MNP Board Appointed
George Vass Prince Albert & District Community Futures Board Appointed
Jayne Remenda
Prince Albert Tourism
Elected Board Members Trevor Dutchak
Parkland Ambulance
Darwin Zurakowski Greg Breeze
Affinity Insurance
Robert Bratvold
Sask. Rivers School Division
Bruce Vance
P.A. Raider Hockey Club
Shayne Lazarowich
Prince Albert Multicultural Council
Ian Litzenberger
Medicine Shoppe Pharmacy
Meghan Mayer Salon Six
As you may know the partnership between TD Merchant Services and the Canadian Chamber of Commerce is coming to a end on December 1st/13. This change will mean that TD Merchant Services will not accept any new clients after December 1 st/2013. Members who currently use TD Merchant services can continue to enjoy the same terms and conditions of their current contract. Please note, the Canadian Chamber of Commerce along with the Provincial and Regional Chambers of Commerce are all collaborating together to find a new host for the Chamber Merchant services plan. Given the volume that all the combined chambers can offer, we are confident that a new merchant services host can be found that will offer our members not only excellent service, but also very competitive rates. Below is a excerpt from communications that TD Merchant Services has sent to its members: TD Merchant Services (TDMS) and the Canadian Chamber of Commerce (CCC) have been partners in providing preferred rates for pa yment processing to Chamber members for more than 12 years. Through this joint program many new merchants have come to be both Chamber members an d TDMS customers. However, due to the increasing fragmentation of this program at the regional level, the CCC and TDMS have mutually decided not to pursue a renewal of this agreement which is set to expire on December 1, 2013. What does this mean for you?
New member merchants can continue to sign up for the TDMS program any time before December 1, 2013; however, no new merchants will be eligible for the program after that date;
Each member’s individual Merchant Services Agreement with TDMS is not impacted and all the terms and conditions set out in each member’s MSA continue to be in effect;
TDMS will not be making any immediate changes to the rates and fees that existing members are paying under this program; additionally, as a strong supporter of the Code of Conduct for Debit and Credit Cards in Canada, TDMS is committed to provide you at least 90 days’ notice of any future changes to the terms and conditions of your agreement with us.
TDMS and the CCC will continue to explore ways to create new partnerships that may be of benefit and of service to the chamber network and member companies of local chambers of commerce. TDMS remains open to working with individual chambers in the various regions across the country where opportunities for mutually beneficial programs may exist.
To help celebrate Small Business Week the Chamber of Commerce offered an opportunity for our members to gather together for networking at the Prince Albert Golf & Curling Club. Over the drop in period several members took advantage of the opportunity.
As you may know, the recruitment and retention of labour for the region continues to be the top challenge for many businesses. On Sept 11/13, the Prince Albert & District Chamber of Commerce hosted Round Table discussions with the Federal Labour Minister – the Honorable Kellie Leitch. We are planning to organize a second round table discussion to further discuss the specifics of the labour challenges, and look to identify solutions that could be contained in: Recruitment Efforts, Retention Strategies, and Training Needs for the Region. This event is free for our members to participate in. We are planning this second round table discussion for Wednesday, November 27/2013, at the Prince Albert Inn. Please plan to attend - to offer insights and contribute to the process to identify solutions and strategies that our region can utilize to improve our labour conditions. Please RSVP to the Chamber office to secure your spot today. We will be asking participants to assist with a brief survey prior to the event, the insights gained or confirmed in the survey will assist us with a starting point from which to build. Please contact the Chamber office with any questions or suggestions regarding this round table.
November 22nd - Black Friday November 25th - Cyber Monday November 30th - Small Business Saturday December 9th - Green Monday December 18th - Free Shipping day
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Prince Albert & District Chamber of Commerce 3700—2nd Avenue West Prince Albert, SK S6W 1A2 306.764.6222 ph 306.922.4727 fax
www.princealbertchamber.com