March 2013 Inside this issue: GM’s Report Member Spotlight Events Recap New Staff Introduction Business Succession Calendar of Events
CHAMBER at a glance
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a publication of the Brandon Chamber of Commerce
PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE How do we become a top entrepreneurial city? Did you know in 2011 the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) report on entrepreneurial rankings for the top 100 cities in Canada (population 25,000+) had Brandon ranked number 29? Fast forward to 2012 and Brandon has moved up two spots to number 27 overall. Some would say this is not bad, but it should be noted that the top nine overall highest scores for the most entrepreneurial cities come from Alberta or Saskatchewan. The report is called Communities in Boom.
growth plans. Finally, Policy represents indicators associated with the actions local governments take with respect to business taxation and regulation.
Where we did match up to the top 10 cities was in the category of Presence. This includes areas such as business establishment growth, business establishments per capita, selfemployment as a percentage of total employment, and industry diversity. From 2011-2012 we did show a minimal improvement in this area of scoring. We There is no single best way to measure also showed minimal improvement in the entrepreneurship quotient of cities the scoring area of Perspectives. This so CFIB used a wide range of approaches includes expected future business to arrive at a performance, series of future full-time scores. CFIB hire expectations, “We as Chambers must used 14 overall state of continue to foster different business, indicators and commercial favourable environments grouped them industrial and for entrepreneurship” into three institutional main building permits categories. They are Presence, and life satisfaction. The Perspective and Policy. Presence is a area to watch, and where we did lose representation of the scale and growth some traction, was in policy. Policy of business ownership as well as its includes cost of local government, local industrial diversity. Perspective covers government tax balance, local indicators associated with optimism and government sensitivity to local
Nate Andrews, Chamber President businesses, local government regulations and the availability of biz pal. This message is congruent with the message we continue to send to our local government. Business has concerns about how government spending affects taxes, short and long term, because any increased costs can hamper a businesses ability to succeed. For small business, property tax can be one of the most burdensome taxes. When there is a higher ratio of commercial property tax to the residential rate, the worse off a municipality is on fairly taxing commercial business. Our local government must continue to understand the importance of small business and what promoting its success can do for the growth of a city. Finally, regulatory burden plays a huge role in creating a negative business environment. Local governments must make this environment favourable for (Continued on page 6)