About the BC Chamber

The BC Chamber of Commerce is the largest, most broadly-based business organization in the province and the only organization with a unique, grass-roots policy development process which allows for advocacy at all levels of government – municipal, provincial, and federal.

As the provincial organization for chambers of commerce and boards of trade, the BC Chamber of Commerce represents the interests and concerns of approximately 32,000 businesses – a distinctive network of businesses of all sizes, in all industry sectors, from across the province.

Through the BC Chamber of Commerce members access benefits, partnerships, and networking opportunities. Most importantly, the BC Chamber of Commerce routinely advocates to Provincial and Federal governments on behalf of its members, in addition to assisting local Chambers with their advocacy efforts, to ensure that their concerns are being heard.

The BC Chamber of Commerce is the Voice of Business in BC.

Advocacy & Policy - the Chamber at work for you

The BC Chamber of Commerce is the premier business advocacy organization in the province. Through our singular policy development process, grounded in a grassroots, result-oriented analysis of issues and solutions from locally-based stakeholders, the Chamber has a proven track record of making successful recommendations to governments and non-governmental organizations at all levels. As members of the BC Chamber of Commerce, local Chambers of Commerce and businesses can rest assured that their concerns are being fully represented to the entire province.

Policy Successes

The BC Chamber of Commerce actively tracks the success of our recommendations so that our membership can stay up to date with the progress that is being made on the issues important to them.

2009 saw significant action on Chamber policies from Skills, Labour, and Immigration, to Taxation, Transportation and Infrastructure. See our most recent policy successes at www.bcchamber.org

Chamber Policy Priorities for 2010

Over the coming year the Chamber will be taking a leading role in shaping the public policy agenda in a number of areas critical to ensuring BC’s continued economic competitiveness.

• Priority Areas:
• A Vibrant Resource Sector
• Competitive Taxation and Regulation
• Crime and Public Safety
• Skills and Labour Shortage
• Transportation

The Benefits of Membership

In addition to constant advocacy work on behalf of our membership, the Chamber is proud to offer a number of members-only benefits. By building partnerships and agreements with other organizations and businesses, the Chamber is able to provide programs ranging from group insurance, to payroll services, office supplies, and preferred payment processing rates on credit card and Interac transactions.

Member Services

Leadership BC
A Chamber initiative to promote and encourage outstanding community leadership.

Best of the Best
A governance workshop designed to inform, educate and assist both volunteer chamber board members and staff about their roles and responsibilities.

News & Events
Regular newsletters and information on the issues and events of interest to business in BC, including a weekly report on activities in the Legislature while it’s in session..

A Message from the President & CEO

As I write this, current news would indicate that we are moving out of the precedent-setting recession into some form of growth. Of course the questions remain: how much growth can we expect and what will it look like? In BC, the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games promise to keep us at the head of the Canadian pack. Beyond that, what role will our resource sector play going forward, or has our diversified economy matured to the point where it will provide the basis for growth and lead us to prosperity?

Some factors that we must take into account when attempting to answer these questions are:

• Pace of recovery for our trading partners
• Our ability to tackle the serious problem of our sagging productivity
• Increased levels of certainty around the land base and our ability to conclude treaties with first nations, and at a faster pace
• Our ability to deal with our demographic realities and their impact on a shortage of skills and experience
• Levels of capital investment by private sector in key industries

As a policy organization, the BC Chamber of Commerce actively provides a wide variety of recommendations to government in answer to these questions. With a growing membership in all sectors of the economy, in all size brackets, and located in every part of the province, we continue to be the “go to” organization for business input. Government, media, and organizations nation-wide rely on our ability to take the pulse of the business environment and find solutions that will work.

With the support of the province-wide network of Chamber members, we will find answers to the questions of the coming year. Together, we will take on the challenges, and continue to build BC to be the best place to live and do business.

John Winter, President & CEO