Connecting people. Empowering business. The Burlington Chamber of Commerce
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Four out of five members report that the health benefit plan is an important factor when choosing a job. (The Sanofi Canada Healthcare Survey 2014)
TABLE OF CONTENTS From the Chair’s Corner Meet the chair of the Young Professionals Network P5
Explore China with the Burlington Chamber Join us for an exciting 12-day trip to some of China’s leading cities and sites. P5
Mayor’s Luncheon with Kelly Childs How did a make believe bake shop in the woods become a booming healthy food business? P8
Mayor’s State of the City Address Mayor Rick Goldring focussed on Burlington’s future in his 7th State of the City address. P6
P8
Taxation Letter a Win for Business Read how Chamber advocacy keeps your business strong. P15 Grow Bold The City’s Director of Planning & Building explains the benefits of intensification for business. P15
Business After 5 This is networking at its finest. P16
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Business Before 9 Are you in the picture? P10 Chamber Roundtables The Burlington Chamber gives local businesses a voice with top politicians. P13
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Member Profiles Putting a spotlight on Stagevision for its 15th year as a Chamber member. P14
The Review Spring 2017 On the cover: Premier Kathleen Wynne and Marty Staz at the special luncheon event hosted by the Burlington & Oakville Chambers. Photo courtesy of: Dave Gruggen Photography
Membership Milestones These companies know the importance of membership. P18
For advertising inquiries contact: Leah Flippance, Publisher of The Review Call: 289-684-2482 Or email leah@flipsidemediagroup.com A publication of:
Editors: Keith Hoey, President & CEO, Burlington Chamber of Commerce Barbara French, Committee Coordinator, Burlington Chamber of Commerce Contributing Writers: Jelena Milivojevic, Elaine Slatter, Mary Lou Tanner Graphic Designer: Ashley Giannice The Review is a publication of the Burlington Chamber of Commerce. 414 Locust St. Burlington, ON L7S 1T7 www.burlingtonchamber.com 905-639-0174
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From left to right:Megan Cheema, Alexandra Manthorpe, Owen Duguid, Orie Paul D. Stunt, Robert Krizman, Brian J. Hanna, Tanya A. Leedale, FromNiedzviecki, left to right: Megan Cheema, Alexandra Manthorpe, Owen Duguid, Jarvis G. Sheridan, Harold R. Watson, Larry S. Gangbar, James McAskill, Kellie Gray, Orie Niedzviecki, Paul D. Stunt, Robert Krizman, Kenneth W. Watts, Brian J. Hanna, Simon Fung, Kaleigh Dryla Tanya A. Leedale, Jarvis G. Sheridan, Harold R. Watson, Larry S. Gangbar, James McAskill, Robert A. Watson, Chantel Goldsmith, Maggie Scull, John Inglis
700 KERR STREET, OAKVILLE, ON 905.842.8030 — OMH.CA
From The Chair’s Corner Conversations with Committee Chairs drive in February and packing with Food4Kids in March while looking to coordinate a blood drive with Canadian Blood Services in the near future.
Burlington Chamber: The YPN is gaining traction with a full slate of events in the first quarter of 2017. Tell us about those events. Ryan Brown: As a committee we designed our business plan to focus on four types of events that help us grow our professional network while concentrating on Networking, Professional Development, Mentorship & Community Involvement. Our current lineup of events includes our January 2017 New Year Kick-Off networking event, February Speed Networking event, and March Professional Development event with speaker Jim Gray. We offer community involvement opportunities as we are coordinating a food
Burlington Chamber: What do you see as the biggest concerns for the under 40 entrepreneurs in Burlington? Ryan Brown: I believe concerns are going to vary based on if you are a corporate employee or self-employed business owner, but in general I believe it’s how can I advance in a multi-generational workforce and what are the best ways to take control, influence the workplace culture and start performing at the highest levels. As a business owner you must take that one step further by developing strategies for employees to be able to take control, influence and maximize their performance. Burlington Chamber: In 2016 the YPN started a Mentorship program for your members. What did the committee learn from the experience of running this program? Ryan Brown: We ran the Mentorship program in the last half of 2016 and learned a lot from the initial partnerships. First, we have an excellent group of mentors at our disposal within the Chamber who are very open to supporting young professionals as they advance the skills they personally identified as areas of improvement. The feedback we received from all partnerships was very valuable and allows us to improve the program
as we lay a solid foundation for personal and professional growth for all involved. We piloted the program with six mentor/mentee partnerships which was a great success and currently have four partnerships working together for the first half of 2017. Burlington Chamber: What have you personally gained in being a committee chair and why do you think volunteering for committees is important? Ryan Brown: Personally, as the Chair of the YPN I get the opportunity to work with a tremendous group of individuals on a committee that is focused on developing and engaging Young Professional relationships here in Burlington. As a business owner & resident I get to work closely with this group to not only build professional relationships, but friendships that could exist for the next 25 years. For an individual like myself who moved to Burlington five years ago and transitioned from a VP corporate role to business owner three years ago, getting involved with the Chamber and the committees was an ideal way to connect and get more involved in the Burlington business community. I look forward to leading the YPN committee as we continue our efforts within the Chamber and connect with Burlington’s future business leaders. By Elaine Slatter, XL Consulting Group
Explore China with the Burlington Chamber
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oin the Burlington Chamber of Commerce on our trip to China from October 14 to October 25, 2017. This exciting 12-day trip will expose members and guests to some of China’s leading cities and sites. You can learn about the people and culture of this emerging economy – your first step to doing business with China. Experience centuries-old customs and history, while witnessing first-hand its emerging economy and expanding role in the global marketplace. Join other business people and meet new friends from Burlington for this unique travel experience that promises to be memorable. The trip will include: round-trip international airfare; 4 & 5 star hotel stays; three meals per day; all in-country deluxe bus transportation; and English-speaking tour guides. The cost is only $2,499 CDN for Burlington Chamber members; non-members add $100 US. This trip includes a visit to the terracotta warriors in Xian. This tour is an amazing value and is also open to the public, offering something unique for everyone, from the business professional to the adventurous traveller. An information session is being held on April 20th at 6:30 pm. Contact Lori at the Chamber to register (lori@burlingtonchamber. com).
Details of this amazing adventure can be found on the Burlington Chamber website.
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Mayor’s State of the City Address
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n January 25 the Burlington Chamber of Commerce hosted the annual Mayor’s State of the City address. His speech, given to a crowd of over 400 business, community and political leaders, was Mayor Goldring’s seventh address as mayor. The mayor summarized his address this way… In my address, I spoke about how the city is supporting businesses and local jobs, planning for new development in key areas while ensuring the movement of people and
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goods across the city, and fostering a sense of community through neighbourhood initiatives. Our city has prospered, but we have more work to do. With continued leadership and vision, combined with the ongoing input and support of the community, we can make further progress on building a great city. Here are some of the highlights: Strengthening the economy and creating more jobs: Aligned with the City of Burlington’s Strategic vision of A City That Grows, the Burlington Economic Development Corporation developed an innovation
and entrepreneurship strategy in 2016. This strategy is focused on strengthening local support for entrepreneurs. Directly related to this strategy, an innovation centre at 5500 North Service Road is scheduled to open its doors in June 2017. Growing responsibly in alignment with our transportation network: The City of Burlington’s new Official Plan, entitled Grow Bold, will identify key areas for responsible growth, while traditional neighbourhoods will see modest changes going forward. Extensive plans are being drafted showing what Burlington’s four mobility hubs (downtown and around our three GO stations) will look like in the future. Innovative and aligned transportation planning, including the development of a new transit strategy this year, is focused on making it more desirable for people to walk, ride a bicycle or take transit for short-distance trips. The city is also investing in keeping vehicles moving now and in the future. Investing in a high quality of life: Furthering our sense of community and bringing people together remains a priority. The City of Burlington is working with neighbourhoods to facilitate 150 Love My Hood events to mark Canada 150. The city is investing tax dollars into important projects that make Burlington a great place to live. The Joseph Brant Hospital, which saw a $60 million contribution from the City of Burlington, will open the doors to its new patient tower in August 2017. You can read the complete speech and watch the videos at www.burlingtonmayor. com/state-of-the-city-2017.
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Mayor’s Luncheon with Kelly Childs
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elly Childs, the keynote speaker for the Mayor’s Luncheon that took place on November 22nd, inspired the audience with her whimsy and awakened everyone’s inner childhood imaginations. The Burlington-based entrepreneur known for Kind Foods (now Lettuce Love Café) and Kelly’s Bake Shoppe, shared the story behind her success. It all started when she was a young girl who spent her days outside, imagining a make believe bake shop in the woods, surrounded by animals. She admired her entrepreneurial, creative father for his work ethic and for teaching her that girls are just as powerful as boys. She admired her mother for teaching her the importance of giving and most importantly, the importance of family. As she reflects on her childhood, she feels fortunate to be in a place where she is doing what she loves as she lives out the dream of her five-year old self. Standing in front of her audience, she posed the following questions: What do you love doing? Are you living your dreams? Does it have to be true that we have to put aside our dreams when we grow up? In 2008, Kelly decided it was time to do something that would address the state of health in our world that was filled with so many food allergies, so much processed food, chronic diseases and cancers. Kelly wanted to be a part of something bigger – something that would positively impact her life and that of others around her, all while creating a sense of whimsy for her daughter Erinn.
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Kelly opened a plant based restaurant, Kind Food which is now Lettuce Love Café, with an idea of healing the body through food and avoid contributing any harm to our bodies, animals and our planet. These values, along with those of love, family, creativity and magic, guided Kelly as she grew and established Lettuce Love Café, Kelly’s Bake Shoppe and Pure Love Smoothie Bar. Social media became a way for Kelly to express her newly-learned way of life, even though she did not know anything about it initially and referred to herself as a “dinosaur”. She decided to jump in with both feet and it became a guilty pleasure for her. She was grateful to share her discoveries without trying to influence anyone; rather, she just wanted to show people they have choices. In her posts, Kelly always wanted to be her authentic self, signing off with “xo” every time. In 2009 she had a few hundred followers, which has grown substantially with over 23,000 followers on Facebook and over 30,000 followers on Instagram. The four main things she learned about social media are: (1) Be authentic - be yourself and have genuine interest in the medium (2) Keep the conversation going – don’t allow yourself to neglect it (3) Share and contribute – make it a place for engagement and opportunities (4)Be grateful - give back and take time for gratitude Over the years, Kelly’s different ventures grew separately from each other and took on
their own lives and personalities. One thing the brands had in common is that they stayed consistent with her values – everything was based around love. Kelly feels so blessed to have had people follow her as she followed her dreams. She just watched the magic start to happen. Kelly admits she still sees herself in her dad’s shadows and hears his voice. She’s happy to be the powerful girl he knew she could be. She took his lessons to heart, wanting him to be proud and never lost herself through the process. She built a vision from inside out as an extension of who she is. Social media gave Kelly the magic she found in her make believe bake shop in the woods. Today in her real bake shop, Poppa Russ, a cupcake in memory of her dad is one of the top sellers, bringing smiles to so many people, including everyone at the Luncheon who received the special cupcake in Kelly’s signature pink packaging signed “xo”. As for what’s in store for the future, Kelly plans to work with her daughter Erinn, whose spirit and entrepreneurial nature inspires her every day. They are going to continue working on their website that promotes a plant-based lifestyle, share their newly released best seller “Made with Love” with the community, perhaps open more stores in the future…all while continuing to sprinkle more fairy dust on the world. By Jelena Milivojevic, LaSalle Park Retirement Community
RIGHT AWAY
BUSINESS BEFORE 9 These events give business people opportunities to network and make business contacts. They’re a perfect fit for those who want to get an early start to their business schedules. Photos by Dave Gruggen Photograhy
Tina, Steve
Gil, Jasmina
Dave, Nagy, Marty
Viki, Sofi, Raiza, Laurie
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Marty, Lisa, Joni
Recent Business Before 9 events include: October Business Before 9 – BDC & Faraway Greens November Business Before 9 – The Centre for Skills Development & Training December Business Before 9 – Sunrise Senior Living January Business Before 9 – UPS Store #89
Tonia, Marty, Colette
Holly, Chuck, Wayne, Dean
Gino
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Chamber Roundtables
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s part of its advocacy work, the Chamber of Commerce normally hosts two or three political roundtable meetings each year. These meetings feature politicians and policy-makers at the federal and provincial levels. The idea is to give chamber members and business leaders opportunities to have frank, closed-door discussions with cabinet ministers and critics. Over the past two months the Chamber has hosted roundtable meetings with Premier Kathleen Wynne and Provincial Minister of Energy Hon. Glenn Thibeault. The roundtable meeting with Premier Wynne was held immediately following the Premier Wynne luncheon event on January 13 that was hosted jointly by the Burlington and Oakville Chambers of Commerce. Business leaders from Burlington and Oakville spoke with the Premier about energy prices, Canada-US trade, Ontario’s nuclear program, infrastructure and Ontario’s manufacturing sector.
Photo by Dave Gruggen Photograhy The roundtable meeting with Hon. Glenn Thibeault was held on February 1. The main themes of the discussion included electricity costs, energy price stability, cap and trade, and the impacts of the new US administration on Canadian energy policy.
Photo by Jackie Penner
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MEMBER PROFILES
Stagevision
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tagevision opened its doors in 1984, and, armed with a firm understanding of clients’ needs and extensive knowledge of industry suppliers, the company quickly began building a client base. Identifying a need for custom sets and displays, a new company, Set Design, was formed to allow for the design and construction of custom stages, and backdrops for this expanding market. This new capability allowed for total creative, cost and production control of major staging elements, all under one roof. Stagevision has continued to focus on the larger, more elaborate events. In 1995, Stagevision AV Services was opened. The rental division was formed to address daily equipment rental requirements and the hotel market. The Stagevision head office is in Mississauaga and has had a presence in Burlington for
the last 15 years, with four full-time employees in this location. Kevin Hoffman, Regional Manager for Burlington/Hamilton/Oakville says what he likes about having a presence in Burlington is, “the sense of community in the area, the proximity to so many neighboring cities and the potential for growth.” Stagevision Inc. has always accepted its responsibilities to the industry as well as the community. The success of many trade association events rely heavily on corporate assistance and sponsorship. The company and its employees also support many community and charitable organizations through sponsorships, donations and the commitment of volunteer time. The charitable organizations that Stagevision has been proud to support include Peel Children’s Aid, Children of Chernobyl, Trillium Health Foundation, Dreams Take Flight,
Heart and Stroke Foundation, MS Society of Canada, Ontario March of Dimes, Canadian Foundation for the Physically Disabled, The Canadian Helen Keller Centre, The Kids Talk Phone, Canadian Leukemia Research Fund, and Wellspring. We asked Kevin about Stagevision’s vision for the future which he sees as “the ongoing service and support of local businesses and the outlying area. To achieve an increased market segment, while continuing to maintain the outstanding service that has made us a staple in our sector for over a decade.” Congratulations, Stagevision for your 15th anniversary as a member of the Burlington Chamber of Commerce. By Elaine Slatter, XL Consulting Group
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Taxation Letter a Win for Business
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arlier this year the federal government announced it was considering taxing employer-paid health and dental benefits. Along with adding hundreds or thousands of dollars to Canadians’ tax bills, this proposal would have caused many employers to stop offering coverage to employees. (When Quebec introduced a similar tax, 20% of employers dropped health and dental benefits for employees.)
Your Chamber of Commerce, along with many other Chambers across the country, actively lobbied against the federal government’s proposal to tax-employer-sponsored health and dental benefit plans. Your chamber wrote to local MPs Gould and Damoff citing our opposition (you can read the letter on the Chamber website). On February 1 in the House of Commons, the Prime Minister announced that the government would not be moving forward with the tax. Our message
Grow Bold
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t last year’s Annual General Meeting for the Burlington Economic Development Corporation, Scott Mackey from Adlib Software gave me one of my most used phrases in 2016: Burlington has quality of place and quality of talent. In one sense, Adlib is about where we want to go as a city – a local mid-sized firm, started through the talents of Burlingtonians. Scott Mackey talked about why Adlib makes its home in Burlington. It’s because of what the city has to offer: a great place to live, work, and play and access to talent to support and be part of our city’s growing economy. 2016 was an historic year for the city. Council made the decision that our city is going to grow beyond our current forecasted population of 193,000 people. Too often we rely on building more new neighbourhoods on farmland to grow cities. That’s no longer an option in Burlington because our limits of that type of growth will come to an end shortly. But that does not mean we won’t grow or that our future is limited. The opposite is actually true. Great cities grow upward, build great urban neighbourhoods, and attract new residents. And that’s our future. We talk about three key components of this future: build up, build smart, build beautiful. Catchy, isn’t it? There is a lot of strong research and critical thinking that leads us to the focus of build up, build smart, build beautiful. This research tells us that we must build great new neighbourhoods, focused around our GO stations and downtown Burlington. GO Transit’s investment in Regional Express Rail (RER) or 15-minute GO service makes the area around our GO stations really attractive for investment and growth. What we know is that 15-minute rail service makes transit the easy option because there’s always a train on its way. When transit is easy,
people want to live close to it. The GO stations and downtown are critical to us. We have an incredible opportunity to achieve our growth objectives, leverage the RER investment, and create amazing new neighbourhoods. Neighbourhoods that will be walkable, bikeable, accessible to parks and shopping, and accessible to services. Neighbourhoods that are connected to the amazing parts of our city – the downtown and waterfront; the Royal Botanical Gardens; the Niagara Escarpment; our trail system; and our connections to our neighbours in Hamilton and Oakville. That’s how we build smart. To build beautiful is a key priority. We must focus on building high-quality buildings, streets, parks, trails, and connections. People know a great community by its look and feel. We also know what we expect – that our streets are wonderful places to walk, bike, sit, and enjoy. Buildings are connected to the street in ways that make it simple for anyone to get into and out of. And when we look at buildings and our skyline, we feel a sense of pride. That’s how we build beautiful. It’s also how we build up but let me say we should not talk about building up unless we are committed to building beautiful. I’m committed, and I hope you are, too. “Build up, build smart, build beautiful” is an approach that matters to each of us and to our business community. It’s math, in the end. We live and work in a time where population growth drives job growth. Population growth brings innovators to our community. Population growth brings talent to our community. Population growth brings newcomers to our community. Population growth means we are supporting the continued growth of Burlington’s economy. More recently, research in North America has revealed even more important economic relationships between population growth,
has gotten through and we believe this is a step in the right direction to protect both employers and employees from further tax increases. We will continue to monitor developments, but this is very positive news. The chamber network has a powerful voice when we all work together.
our approach to new neighbourhoods, and what it means for retailers (more math). Our new neighbourhoods will be built around transit, walkability, and bikeability. Cars will be there, too. Yet, research is telling us that customers who arrive at a business on foot, by bus, or by bike (or all three) spend more in total over a year than those who drive. Research is also telling us that the amount of retail space we need in our city is directly tied to how the size of our population is and where people live. As we grow, there will be more opportunities for new businesses and more opportunities to grow existing businesses. As we build walkable, bikeable and transit-oriented neighbourhoods, businesses can grow and thrive because they’ll have more sales. City growth is very much about our capacity and willingness to change our city. Being responsible about growing our city means we need to be deliberate and well-thought-out about where change will occur and where it will not occur. There are amazing parts of our city that are the foundations for our future: the Niagara Escarpment; our rural areas; our stable neighbourhoods; and our waterfront. These areas will see gentle or minimal changes. Growth will be around our GO stations and in downtown. These areas will see much more change. Our approach strikes the right balance between growing Burlington and respecting what we value. You may call it a tale of two cities. We call it Grow Bold.. Mary Lou Tanner, MCIP, RPP, Chief Planner and Director of Planning and Building City of Burlington
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BUSINESS AFTER 5
Our monthly Business After 5 events are considered to be some of the best networking opportunities in the country. A variety of generous hosts and a welcoming crowd are what make them so special. Photos by Dave Gruggen Photograhy
Rebecca, Karl
Yvonne, Marty, Steve
Marybeth
Karl, Krysta
Marty, Ryan, Nathan
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Recent Business After 5 and YPN events include: YPN Speed Networking October Business After 5 – Small Business Week Tradeshow November Business After 5 – Outsource IT December Business After 5 – Hynek Financial Group & Holiday Inn Burlington January Business After 5 – Burlington Public Library
Marty, Janice, Sylvia
Jamie, Jill
Marty, Maureen, Andrew
Steve, Dean, Dan, Cara
Barbara, Christopher
Keith, Maureen, Marty
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MEMBERSHIP MILESTONES 35 YEARS
The Burlington Chamber of Commerce was established in 1947. Since that time we have seen membership grow to its current level of 1,000 companies. Many of our members have been with us a very long time. The list presented here shows those companies that have achieved a significant Chamber milestone between October and December last year.
Airways Transit Service Limited Burlington Public Library
15 YEARS Brickworks Communications Inc.
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10 YEARS Bark & Fitz
5 YEARS Advantage Packaging Limited Career Compass Canada EduVision Inc.
Buxton Financial Advisory Corporation
The Art of Accounting
Energogen International Corporation
Elizabeth Interiors
The Oyster
Industrial System Arts Inc.
Tim L. Dobbie Consulting Ltd.
Stagevision A/V Services Inc.
Signature Business Centres
Walker & Walker Appraisal Ltd.
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