Baffin Regional Chamber of Commerce Awarded Reaccreditation

Iqaluit Nunavut – February 5, 2010

The Baffin Regional Chamber of Commerce has been granted reaccreditation status. 

"We are proud to recognize the Baffin Regional chamber as an effective, responsible and well-managed organization, that is making a difference in its community and keeping ‘The Voice of Business’ loud and strong,” said Perrin Beatty, President and CEO of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce. 

To achieve accreditation, a chamber must satisfy stringent performance requirements in the key areas of governance, operations, membership programming, policy and advocacy activities and strategic planning.  

“We are extremely proud that our chamber has been awarded this prestigious distinction” stated Chris West. “It demonstrates that we provide true value to our members and the Baffin Region and that we operate our business with the same rigor, focus, and conviction as do our members.”  

Developed by a team of seasoned local chamber executives, in conjunction with leaders of provincial and territorial chambers and the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, the Chamber Accreditation Program is managed by the Chamber Accreditation Council of Canada (CACC).   

The accreditation program was created to protect, reinforce and elevate the chamber of commerce brand by signalling to members and the community at large, as well as to competing organizations, that chambers of commerce are professionally run businesses, meeting high standards that are uniform across an extensive network.  

Chambers of commerce and boards of trade that are successful in achieving the requirements for accreditation are recognized each year at the Canadian Chamber of Commerce Annual General Meeting.  

For more information on this program contact:

Hal Timar, Executive Director, Baffin Regional Chamber of Commerce (867) 979-4654

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"Buy American" agreement is a positive step forward says Baffin Regional Chamber of Commerce

Iqaluit, February 5, 2010  

The Baffin Regional Chamber of Commerce commends the governments of Canada and the United States on reaching a productive and forward-looking agreement on Buy American provisions.

 “This represents an important step forward in our continued engagement with our largest trading partner,” said Chris West, President of the Baffin Regional Chamber of Commerce.  

“While more work needs to be done to counter protectionism in the United States, this agreement has placed us in a better position than our main competitors to receive U.S. stimulus funding,” added Mr. West.  “It has also resulted in greater co-operation between provinces, territories and the federal government – a long-awaited, but very welcomed accomplishment.  The depth of the federal/provincial offer and the speed at which it was put forth is an important precedent which puts us in a good position for the negotiation of future agreements.”  

“We must continue to work with the United States to strengthen our ties and to develop solutions that are beneficial to both parties,” concluded Mr. West. 

Contact:

Hal Timar

Executive Director

Baffin Regional Chamber of Commerce (BRCC)

(867) 979-4654

execdir@baffinchamber.ca

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The 2009/2010 Community Economic Development (CED) Trade, Service and Career Fair season is upon us and the schedule for this year’s trips is as follows:

November 19  – Arctic Bay

December 10   – Pond Inlet

February 17 – Sanikiluaq

March 22         – Pangnirtung

March 31         – Kimmirut

These CED – Trade, Service and Career Fairs are made possible thanks to the funding and support from the Government of Nunavut’s Department of Economic Development and Transportation.

As you see on the schedule, most of these events only require one day trips into the community.  The BRCC would like to encourage businesses and organizations to extend their time in the communities and will work with you to coordinate travel on a one way basis if necessary.

Between September 2010 and March of 2011, The CED Week – Trade, Service and Career Fairs will be visiting the Resolute Bay, Grise Fiord, Pangnirtung, Cape Dorset, Igloolik, Hall Beach and Qiqiktarjuaq.

Please contact us with any questions or concerns and we hope to see you on our stops around Baffin this year.

Good day,

It has come to our attention that there is a new competitor out in the marketplace who is aggressively targetting businesses with programs and service. This new group is called the Canadian Merchants Association.

In gathering information about this group since being notified, it has become apparent that part of this group's sales pitch is to ask merchants to submit statements and other documentation as a form of validation for review. In any situation, this is never a wise practice – providing information to an unknown party.

Further investigation indicates that this is a "third party" processor working on behalf of a US-based provider operating out of a call centre in the Montreal area.

If you find that your members are calling you about this, we would advise you to warn any merchant about submission of any documents (merchant or bank statements) to an entity that is unknown to them.

Also, besides varying rate offers which appear on this group's payment processing information, a merchant should be cautious about service and support from a provider with limited hours of operation (Mon to Fri, 9-5 - rather poor hours for retailers who work significantly more hours than that) and are foreign (US) based (all Canadian merchants are governed by domestic regulations).

And finally, forewarn anyone against dealing with an entity that does not have a physical presence or cannot represent themselves in person.

A message on behalf of Perrin Beatty (President and CEO, Canadian Chamber of Commerce) regarding "Buy American"

Dear Chamber Member:

As concerns over the management of the Canada-U.S. border and the "Buy American" provisions in the U.S. stimulus package continue to grow, I want to report on the Canadian Chamber's activities and suggest some steps we can take together to promote an open border.

On Tuesday, Shirley-Ann George, our Senior Vice-President, Policy, joined other businesspeople in meeting U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano. The discussion included the need to ensure a secure and border with predictable and short wait times, especially for trusted goods and people. They also talked about plans for next week's rollout of the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative.

In advance of the new WHTI requirements coming into force on June 1, both CNN and The Economist carried interviews with the Canadian Chamber in which we stressed the need for close cooperation to keep the border open.

We will continue to work with the Canadian and U.S. governments and other associations to resist the thickening of the border. We are currently updating our February 2008 border report on which we partnered with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and more than 40 other Canadian and U.S. associations. This new report will be released in July.

Another major concern for Canadian business is the "Buy American" provisions in the U.S. stimulus package. These damaging measures are contrary to the G20 commitment to not raise trade and investment barriers. They prevent Canadian companies from bidding on many state and municipal government projects in the United States, while driving up costs and limiting choices for American taxpayers.

Canadian companies are not enjoying the same market access opportunities in the United States that they once did. When the "Buy American" provisions appeared out of Congress, the Canadian Chamber urged our members to contact their business partners in the United States to ask them to work against these protectionist measures. The initial legislation was amended to prevent discrimination at the federal level, but Canadian companies do not have the same protection for state and local contracts, including on ones where they could bid in the past.

Last week our sister organization, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, called on the U.S. administration to ease the "Buy American" guidelines on state and municipal governments. However, the threat continues to grow. Compounding the damage from the U.S. stimulus bill, similar provisions are being inserted into other pieces of legislation before Congress.

Here in Canada, we are seeing a disturbing number of retalitory measures being considered. Both countries will be harmed by a downward spiral of new protectionist policies, especially considering the high percentage of products that have extensive content from the other country.

It's important that we act now in two concrete ways. First, we urge all chamber members to speak with suppliers, customers and associations on the U.S. side to restate that the "Buy American" provisions should not be aimed at Canada and that they should not be included in any new legislation. These types of measures will harm U.S. companies, U.S. employees and U.S. taxpayers.

Second, we ask that you urge your provincial or territorial and municipal governments to support action by the federal government to find a measure that provides immediate relief for Canadian businesses, such as a bilateral agreement that ensures projects with federal funding give access to both countries or mutual recognition through the WTO Agreement on Government Procurement. For the longer term, we need governments at all levels in both countries to support a bilateral government procurement agreement.

For our part, the Canadian Chamber will write the federal, provincial and territorial governments jointly with other business organization in support of this position.

Sincerely,

Perrin Beatty

President and CEO

Canadian Chamber of Commerce

360 Albert St., Suite 420

Ottawa, ON Canada K1R 7X7

(613) 238-4000

Please contact Sadie Vincent-Wolfe, Member Services Manager at the BRCC, if you require any further information.